


Moving With The Tide

by ariessential



Category: One Piece
Genre: Angst, Brother!Ace, Brother!Sabo, F/M, Fluff, Slow Burn, brother!Luffy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-12
Updated: 2021-01-28
Packaged: 2021-03-02 05:01:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 18
Words: 54,898
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23619421
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ariessential/pseuds/ariessential
Summary: When Luffy and Yura met at Makino's bar, they were both just children. Luffy's dreams were as big as his mouth and Yura found herself wanting to see them happen. And Luffy decided she would.Back then she didn't realize how far into the spotlight Luffy would move, and that this spotlight is one she should better avoid at all costs. Soon, there will be a bounty on her head - not just for being part of the infamous Strawhat Crew, but for reasons far bigger than just the Search for the One Piece.~ With illustrations (sometimes) ~This is basically the One Piece Story, adding an Original Female Character. However I won't stick super closely, don't expect direct quotes. Just the general idea of big events. I don't like retelling and always find it boring in other fics, so this will start with Yura (OC) meeting Luffy when they were children and how she got into the ASL-mess but skip the whole creation of the Strawhat pirates, probably. I'm more interested in late Paradise and New World :)Enjoy!
Relationships: Trafalgar D. Water Law/Original Character(s), Trafalgar D. Water Law/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 62
Kudos: 185





	1. Somewhere on the East Blue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [](https://ibb.co/BcL2pvJ)   
> 

"Leave me alone, you old poo!" the little girl screamed in furious terror.  
Her kicks and twists had gotten her nowhere, mainly because the hand tightly fisted in the back of her shirt was almost as big as her whole body. Garp was a giant. His screams normally rivaled hers in volume, but this time he just laughed. It irked her even more. 

"I said put me down! I want to go home!"

Ever since he had plucked her out of the orphanage in the middle of nowhere and put her on his ship, she had hated it. The old man didn't tell her anything. The woman in charge of the orphanage didn't complain when he took her. Actually, she had recognized him, shown him a suspicious amount of respect even. The little girl didn't owe him any kind of respect. 

They had been at sea for about three weeks. She had never been on a ship before; her earliest memories were already of the other children she grew up with. The waves didn't suit her. She got sea sick easily and spent the first days of the journey hanging over the railing, emptying her stomach into the water. Garp made sure there was always someone holding onto her. A part of him seemed to be a responsible adult, trying to take appropriate care of a six-year-old girl. The other part was suspicious ever since she tried jumping into the water in an escape attempt on day one. 

"Shut up, you filthy brat!" Garp finally boomed.  
She got used to the nicknames pretty fast and dished out some of her own for him in return. By now she had pretty much accepted her kidnapping, but was determined to get away at any given moment. She didn't get another chance. While the girl had been busy screaming her lungs out, she had completely missed the ship entering a harbor, docking sucessfully. Garp had dragged her to land. The girl had no concept of geography. Noone had even told her the name of the island the orphanage was on and Garp was careful not to drop any names on the way here. 

Taking the gangplank in heavy strides, he took her with him, through the little village. The people shot them glances. Curious ones, scared ones, funny ones. She screamed for help the whole way, shouting about kidnapping and murder. The villagers hurried on quickly. She didn't really blame them. Garp was noone you wanted to confront about anything. 

They arrived at a little bar. The girl couldn't believe he had the nerve to stop for a drink or some food with her. With a flick of his giant wrist, he threw her on the counter. Her head hit the polished wood with a crack, throwing stars across her vision. It hurt like hell. It was the middle of the day, so the bar was almost empty. When the girl managed to lift her throbbing head, she met the eyes of a woman. A headscarf was covering a lot of her dark green hair. The little girl had seen many funny haircolors back at the orphanage, so it didn't surprise her that much. What actually threw her off was the smile the woman sported. Why did she do that? It was a smile directed at the girl. Not for Garp, or the other guest at the bar. When the woman looked up to the old man, she frowned, however. 

"That's her?" she asked quietly.

Behind her, Garp had gone uncharacteristically quiet. He just grunted in affirmation. The smile of the woman returned. The little girl saw that it was forced this time. 

"Hello, Yura, I'm Makino," the woman said and the little girl was thrown off again, by her own name. How did this lady know it? Why? Makino continued. "You will be staying with me for a little bit. It's gonne be fun, right?"  
  
  
A little bit turned out to be years.


	2. Passing Time at Foosha

Yura let her thin legs dangle from the bar counter. Kicking out in sheer boredom, her heels made a thudding sound every time she hit the wood below her.  
  
It had been a couple weeks since Garp had dropped her off here and as much as she had disliked it at first, Yura couldn't deny that the people here were all so... nice. Makino was the best. Yura lived with her and even had her own bed, in the flat right above the bar. It was a small place, way smaller than the orphanage, but it were only Makino and herself in it so to Yura it seemed gigantic. And a whole bathroom just for the two of them as well! It was way better than her home back with the others, although Yura sometimes missed the orphans.  
The children in Foosha village (Yura had learned this name quickly, since everyone was saying it so much here) didn't care for her. They were their own little group and it didn't seem to happen that often that new children got to the island. The kids looked at her strangely, but never talked to her. The stupid thing was that this happened a lot at the orphanage. There were always new children coming in and after a while they grew into the group like they had always been part of it. But Yura had always been part of it. She was one of the kids who had been there the longest. It wouldn't surprise her if she was born at the orphanage. And so it had always been the others coming to her for friendship and she could accept them or not, because there were a dozen other kids she had already been friends with and didn't need anyone new.  
  
She wasn't used to being the new kid herself. She didn't know what to do.

At least Makino was lovely. A great playmate, although not as eager to roll in the mud with her. The woman was soft and motherly, noone to brawl with like Yura used to do back at home. And she was always working. This was the first time Yura saw the importance of money. The old grannies at the orphanage had always complained about the lack of it, but what did you even need it for? It turned out the food and shelter needed to be paid for. With money. They didn't just appear out of nowhere and you didn't just get something just because you needed it. And so Makino spent most days at the bar, serving people drinks and food and getting money for it. And then she took Yura to the market to get food for themselves.

Yura had asked once why they didn't just eat the food at the bar and Makino had laughed and explained that this was the food for the costumers and you shouldn't mix whats for the bar and what's for upstairs. This wasn't a really good explanation in Yura's opinion, but Makino was a lot smarter than she was and as long as things worked out, she wouldn't complain.  
Sometimes, Yura helped out a bit, mainly with washing dishes. She had only dropped four glasses and a plate, but that was only in the beginning and by now she had gotten pretty good at it. She was not allowed near the funny drinks Makino gave the men all the time, but recently, once she was more careful with washing the dishes, she was sometimes allowed to carry the food to the tables. Most of the time, however, Yura couldn't really help much. Or didn't feel like it. And there was nothing else to do.

"Makino?" she asks after a while, turning around to the woman cleaning glasses behind her.  
  
"Hm?"

"What's the big tree outside called?"

  
Makino's eyes followed out of the door. Yura had a habbit of perching herself on the same spot at the bar, right on the counter, directly opposite the door. It was warm in Foosha village, and so the door was always open. Makino had already noticed that Yura liked it best this way. Through the opening you could see the thick branches of an old tree. "That's a lime tree," she answered finally.

"How do you know?"  
  
"Mostly, you can see what kind of tree it is when you look at the leaves. Lime Trees have heart-shaped leaves."  
  
"Heart-shaped?"  
  
Makino smiled at her, and used both of her hands to form a heart with her thumbs and index-fingers. "Like this."  
Yura only drew her eyebrows together.  
  
"I know what a heart looks like," she pouted but made a mental note to inspect the leaves later. Right now, there were more pressing matters. "What do leaves from other trees look like?"  
  
Makino contemplated that, rubbing her chin in thought. "There are many. Hm. For example, chestnut leaves look like a hand with five fingers."

Yura thought that sounded mighty cool. A tree full of hands. Although, the thought was a bit creepy. The picture in her head resembled a scene from a horror movie more than anything else. She shivered. Surely she would have noticed a tree full of hands. “I’ve never seen those.”  
  
“They grow a lot closer to Colubo.” That was a weird thing to say.  
  
“Who is that?” Was there really a man who attracted creepy trees? Yura wanted to talk to him. Or, the more she thought about it, better not. As if reading her thoughts, Makino laughed.  
  
“It’s not a ‘who’, it’s a ‘what’! Mount Colubo is the big one behind the village. Have you really never heard the name?”  
  
“It has a name?” Yura sat there in awe.  
  
“Of course it has a name. Most things do. All the important things, anyway.”  
  
“Like me. Or you.”  
  
“Exactly!”

The mountain was a huge and mysterious thing. Noone went near it and Makino had told her to keep her distance as well. She had heard stories about it. About bandits and animals as big as a house. Yura agreed that it deserved a name and suddenly found herself angry that she hadn’t known it before. How many names of important things didn’t she know about? She automatically thought of the orphanage and the island.

  
“Then I am going to learn all the important names!” she declared, with a certaintly only a little kid could have.

***

There was the thing about making a plan and then there was another thing about going through with them. The latter was usually the tricky part and often a lot less fun than the first. With Yura’s own plan it was this: The plan was to get to know as many names as possible. All the names, really, if anyone asked her. But she didn’t really know how to do that.  
You had to start somewhere, and the names of the Mountain and the tree in front of the bar were a really good start.

The next morning, Yura ran out of the house and spent the whole day plucking leaves from the trees. She even plucked one from the big lime tree and whenever she encountered a similar looking one on her way, she compared their leaves to make sure she didn’t miss anything. She thought about searching for chestnuts as well, but at the moment she didn’t want to get near the area that was now called The Finger-tree Forest in her head. She shivered again at the thought.

After what seemed like hours, she came running back into the bar, where Makino was behind the counter as usual. The woman looked up at the hasty footsteps and smiled bemused. The leaves where bundled up in the fabric of Yura’s shirt – she had lifted the bottom of it to create a makeshift pocket in front of her belly. But physics weren’t playing along. The quicker she ran, the more wind forced itself into the shirt pocket and blew the little leaves to and fro. So every time she lost some, Yura had to stop to gather them back up. It was frustrating and so she ran even faster to reach her destination sooner. Any the leaves blew away again.  
Finally, the little girl dumped what seemed like hundreds of leaves on the counter. An old man sitting on a bar stool close to her just managed to pull his glass out of reach, or half of the leaves would have ended right inside his drink. Yura barely noticed. She plucked one of the leaves out of the pile and held it up to the light.  
  
“What kind of leaf is that?” she asked but didn’t wait for an answer to pick another one, “and that?”  
  
Makino and the man just stared at her. It wasn’t very helpful, this staring.  
  
“Hey, I can’t leave here right now, but can you run upstairs and get a book from the shelf right next to the stairs? It’s called ‘The Gardeners Guide to East Blue,” Makino said eventually, instead of answering her questions.  
  
Yura’s eyes lit up immediately, but the expression was gone again a moment after. She fidgeted for a while. Her face felt hot up to the ears. That meant that she must have been red like a tomato.  
  
“I- … uhm, I can’t read very well,” she finally admitted in a voice that was barely a mumble. The grannies at the orphanage didn’t have the time to teach every single kid so all she knew were a few scraps the older children dropped. It didn’t count as reading, really.  
  
Again, there were the stares and Yura wanted to sink into the floor right then and there. She wasn’t stupid! Makino smiled again, and huffed.  
  
“Well then, I guess I have to teach you a couple of things.”

\---

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know how long the chapters are gonna be, I guess they will be longer once things start happening. Dont worry, this will be VERY soon. :)


	3. Tooth Gaps and Orange Juice

Every morning, Makino taught her a new letter.  
  
They had to get up even earlier than usual, so that they could have a lesson before Makino did her usual work. Yura didn’t mind. Sometimes, she already knew a letter and would exclaim so excitedly. But Makino was thorough with her work and never let her skip one. Mostly, it turned out that Yura’s knowledge was full of holes and sometimes even wrong to begin with. The first few days were quick – since they hadn’t covered enough to actually read something. Soon however, Yura could read short words, even write her name in big squiggly letters. The first big thing she could read was the bar’s menu. The words were already familiar to her, so it was easier. And once she knew the menu by heart, she started reading the book Makino had given her.  
Yura skipped the long words, as well as the ones in some weird science language she didn’t know and Makino didn’t either. And if Makino didn’t know then there was truly no point learning it, was there?

After a month, it was part of the routine. They would wake up, get ready for the day and sat down so Makino could tell her some words to write down. Sometimes it were random words: things she saw in the room or words she particularly liked. Sometimes it were whole sentences, woven together to a small story. If it was a big one, Yura would spent her time imagining how it would continue and then try writing it down on her own over the day, to be read by Makino the following morning. Then they would venture out to the market or Makino had to count the money in the bar, or did other grown-up stuff Yura didn’t understand. So that’s when the little girl went out and collected more leaves, flowers and grass. She would look it up in the book, flicking through it until she found the picture and then try to read the name and what it did.  
As it turned out, some plants you could use for something! Some were tasty in food – but not in every food! Some you could eat when you were sick and some just smelled really nice if you made them to some kind of juice.  
  
Sometimes, her adventures took the whole day, and Makino never complained or told her off. But then Yura would feel bad because the woman didn’t get to run around either. So Yura made sure she was back in time to help clean the bar and organize the shelves before opening hours. And Makino was glad for the help.  
The bar was originally just that. It opened in the evening and sold drinks and snacks. But that was when Makino had been on her own, and a fast growing girl hadn’t been part of the equation. They ended up opening earlier, at three in the afternoon, to offer dinner for the villagers. It would never be their main selling point, but it brought in the money they needed. Makino still couldn’t afford another person working there, so it became a normal thing for her to cook the meals while Yura brought them out to the guests. You could hardly call it a restaurant, and surely the six year old girl working as a makeshift waitress wasn’t exactly legal, but the people didn’t mind. 

    

\--

    

It was a Tuesday afternoon, when the door opened to a little boy. It was a strange sight. A couple men and women were hunched over their plates, talking fondly in quiet conversations. The boy was the opposite. The door protested in its hinges when he flung it open, waltzing into the room like the place belonged to him. Yura immediately disliked him for it. He waddled through the room on short legs and climbed on a barstool – HER designated barstool - to peek over the counter.  
  
“You aren’t Makino,” he stated and a crease appeared between his eyebrows.  
  
“And you aren’t old enough to be here,” Yura replied sourly. By the looks of it he was even younger than her and people told her she was too young for this place all the time, so it must be true. His head was big for the rest of his body, set on top of a skinny but sturdy little body. The comment must have offended him greatly, for his cheeks had suddenly an angry red tinge to them.  
  
“I’m not!” he declared, puffing his chest out. “I am already four years old!”  
  
“Four?”, she repeated, crossing her arms, “so you are still a baby! You can only be here when you are six years old, like me!” It was a complete lie, a quite obvious one to be honest, but he bought it easily. Yura just wanted him out of here.  
  
“Eeeeeh?” he sqeaked, shocked at the revelation, “For real??” Then he paused. The boy stared at her for a moment and if Yura didn’t know better she would assume there was nothing going on between his big ears. Then he dug his finger up his nose, so far he might poke his brain, and shifted his eyes away.  
“But I am six years old,” he declared.  
  
There was a pause for a moment.  
  
“No you’re not! You just said you aren’t!” Yura screeched. He was the worst liar in the history of liars. And she had seen a lot of bad liars back at the orphanage. He was the worst. “Lying is also not allowed here, so you really have to leave now.”  
  
“I am not a liar, you are!” he screamed back, pointing an accusatory finger at her over the counter.  
  
She swatted his hand away, grabbing him by the collar. Suddenly, they were face to face and Yura dragged him forward, over the wood.  
  
“Don’t call me a liar, liar!” she yanked at his collar again but he was unfazed by it. In fact, he used the sudden closeness to dig his fingers in her face, pulling her cheek angrily. Her eyes watered immediately, but she wouldn’t back down.  
  
They must have made plenty of noise, not that they noticed, but suddenly Makino was there and a second later that were both picked up, dangling from one of the woman’s hands each.  
  
“What’s the matter you two?” she asked. She clearly wasn’t happy.  
  
This must have been the first time she didn’t smile, because usually Yura did everything she could so that Makino would be happy with her. But now the boy had messed that up too.  
  
“He just came in here and called me a liar, but he was the one lying!” she explained herself pointing at the boy. But he didn’t do anything but grin stupidly. Did Yura break him or was he just dense?  
  
“Makino!” he called finally, looking up at her from under his mop of unruly black hair.  
  
The woman sighed.  
  
“Hallo Luffy,” she answered and set them both back down again. “I haven’t seen you around for a while, where were you?”  
  
His face split in half to show an enormous grin. Two teeth were missing, but Yura could already see the new ones poking through the flesh.  
  
“I was sick, so I couldn’t go out. But I’m fine now.”  
  
“I’m sure it must have been hard on you, “ Makino laughed, and went back to one of the cupboards to grab something. “I bet you could barely lay still. I’m glad you’re feeling better, though.”  
  
She set a glass in front of him, filled with orange juice. Luffy immediately took it in his grabby hands, gulping it down loudly. Yura was convinced that there could never be anything quiet about him. Makino was probably right, it was hard to imagine him lying in bed for multiple days.  
They looked on as he emptied the glass in one go, and when he finally set it back down, Makino just smiled fondly. She must have forgotten the most important part.  
  
“That’s 300 Beli,” Yura said instead, by now well aware of the menu and the prices.  
  
Luffy spluttered and almost shot the orange juice back out through his nose again.  
“Three hundred?” he screamed, “I don’t have any!” He clung to the edge of the table, staring pleadingly at Yura. She immediately disliked him even more for it.  
There weren’t many rules at Party’s bar but one universal one was that you had to pay for things. The prices hung above the bar in big red letters and even on every table, on a tiny card. Every day, just before they opened, Yura made sure there really was one card everywhere. The money the people paid was for their food after all, so they needed a lot. Sometimes, men couldn’t pay and it had happened more than once that they ended up with their butts on the street. Makino was surprisingly strong and what she didn’t have in strength, she had in respect in the village. If she couldn’t get someone out, there was always someone at the bar doing the job just fine. The ones who helped were the only ones getting a drink for free afterwards. Only one. Never more. This Luffy boy had done nothing to help. He had been an annoyance since he opened the door. And now he couldn’t even pay.  
  
“You shouldn’t have drank that if you can’t pay!” she exclaimed angrily. She was back at his throat in seconds.  
  
“What do you mean?! I always get juice here!” he pressed his forehead against hers, trying to push her back.  
  
“I already told you, you aren’t allowed to lie, you liar! No one gets things for free!”  
  
“I do”  
  
“You don’t!”  
  
“He does, it’s okay!” Makino had decided to intervene again, before a fight could break out.  
Yura’s head spun around so fast she could see stars for a moment. Was she serious?!  
  
“What?! Why! He didn’t do anything for us!” Had Makino forgotten her own rules? It didn’t seem like it. She was smiling in understanding.  
Yura didn’t have to turn back to know Luffy was sporting an ugly grin as well. As if she was the stupid one. Yura felt left out. Because of that dumb boy.  
  
Finally, Makino explained: “Luffy is here so often, he is basically part of the bar.” she winked at the boy and he grinned even wider, “the tables and chairs don’t have to pay either, right?”  
  
“But he is no table. He just is as dumb as one!” Yura pouted, which earned her a stern look from Makino and protesting screeches from Luffy.  
  
“I can’t believe you two haven’t met yet,” Makino said finally, and sighed. “Yura, can I talk to you for a second? “  
  
Finally! Luffy was out of the conversation! Makino wanted to speak only to her! The girl nodded excitedly. She hopped from the counter to bring a bit of distance to the gap-toothed idiot on the bar stool.  
“What is it?” she asked and Makino crouched down to her level.  
  
“Listen, I know this is weird for you, but Luffy is almost family. He.. he doesn’t have anyone to look out for him. So we have to do that.”  
  
“Why?”  
  
“Because everyone should have someone there for them. Like us two.”  
  
She wasn’t convinced in the slightest. She liked living with Makino, without anyone annoying them. Without someone who doesn't paying for stuff. Another sigh from Makino. Yura’s thoughts must have shown on her face.  
  
“He’s a good boy, I promise. Maybe try to spend some time with him? For me? Can you try to be friends?”  
  
There it was. Makino never, ever asked for something. Sure, sometimes she asked Yura to go to bed, brush her teeth or something like that. But never anything like that. Never for her. Of course Yura couldn’t say no.  
  
“Fine,” she huffed finally and was immediately rewarded by a smile from Makino. She turned around, marching over to Luffy.  
  
“Do you want to.. um.. play something? Outside?”  
She didn’t even know what they could do. Luffy was so different from her. He was a loud baby after all. Well, if he didn’t want to play, Yura could say she had truly tried and go back to carry food around and be happy. Actually, she really hoped he would say no.  
  
“Sure, let’s go!”  
  
The luck wasn’t on her side.  
And before she knew it, he dragged her outside by her shirt, running on his short legs like the devil was after him.

\-------

    


	4. Adventurers

The tall grass crunched underneath her feet as Yura forged a path through it. On the outskirts of the village, no one cared for mowing the grass, so the meadows where wild and untouched. The weeds brushed against her legs roughly, but she didn’t much care for the scratches. Yura knew they wouldn’t even hurt, just maybe itch a bit tomorrow. Behind her, Luffy had a harder time making his way through. He was shorter than her, so the green actually reached up to his waist, making it much harder to trample down. After a couple minutes, he just fell in behind her, walking in her already trampled path. 

“Where are we going?” he asked. He had picked up a branch, to poke at the ground around him in random curiosity. The fingers of his other hand were digging in his nose again. If he fell right now, Yura thought, his hand would be pushed in his brain and he’d die.

“Out of the village,” she answered the question. She was really trying a civil tone, but her voice sounded more blank than anything else. She tried harder. “It’s boring back there and I already know all the streets and houses. But I’ve never been very far this way.”

“Oh.” Luffy seemed disappointed by the answer but didn’t question it. Maybe it didn’t sound like the big adventure he had hoped for. When he didn’t say anything else, she took the initiative. Uncomfortable silence was the last thing she wanted.

“Have you?”

“Huh?”

“Walked this way before? You were born here, right?”

Luffy grinned again, slightly whistling as his chuckle breezed through the tooth gaps. “Yeah, been here forever!” He seemed proud of this fact and something inside Yura’s chest drew together painfully. She still felt like an intruder most of the time. But no one had to know that. Certainly not Luffy.

“So then you must know the island pretty well!”

“The island?” God, he was dense.

“The village. And the mountain. And what’s behind it.” Yura turned around to the boy. He was still walking behind her and maybe he just didn’t hear her right the first time. She wasn’t really patient and he seemed to be a tooth gapped dummy, but she could at least figure out how much he knew about the place. His face dropped slightly and he chewed on his lip.

“I know the village but I’m not allowed to go anywhere else. Makino says I shouldn’t go alone.”

“Why not?”

Makino never had a problem letting her out of sight. She always wanted to know where she went and there were a couple rules like “don’t go to the mountain” or “don’t climb the windmills” but this wasn’t really a dangerous area after all. Then again, Yura was older and a lot smarter (if you asked her).

Yura was still mulling this over, walking backwards so she could talk to Luffy properly, when her next step went into emptiness. Her arms propelled in the air uselessly for a moment, trying to regain balance, but there was nothing she could put her weight on. Was that a cliff behind her? Was she going to fall into a hole and die? A yelp escaped her mouth – not really a scream because there simply wasn’t enough time for one before she hit water. It wasn’t deep so her butt immediately found the ground harshly, the pain tingling up her spine. There was muddy water in her mouth. She spluttered and sat up again quickly, only to be greeted with Luffy’s breathless laughter.  
Now that she knew she wasn’t going to die, Yura had time to look around and see what happened. She was sitting in some kind of trench, hip-deep in water. The sides went up to the meadow in shallow slopes. The whole thing was maybe two meters wide. She had fallen into the aprupt beginning of the trench and when she looked behind her, she could see that it ran through the grass for what seemed forever. Still ignoring the laughter, she dug her fingers into the ground below the water and felt grass. What was this? Looking up she could see that by now Luffy had landed on the ground, rolling and snickering. Yura could feel her ears turning red.

“Shut up, you baby, it’s not funny!”

“I’m not a baby!” The response was quick. He was on his feet again, red face, furious eyes. At least he had stopped laughing.

With a sigh, Yura tried to get up, slightly slipping on wet grass. Once she was standing, the water barely reached the mid of her calves. Something on her leg was stinging and a glance down confirmed that she had scratched it open. Red trickled down her skin slowly. She scrunched up her nose at the sight of the dirt around the small wound. Makino always said that dirty wounds were really bad. But everything around her was dirty here, even the boy still standing on top of the trench.  
When he saw the blood he panicked.

“You’re hurt!” he exclaimed shocked. It couldn’t be the first time he saw a scratch, but he eyed her as if she had ripped off her whole leg. “Are you okay?” he asked, still shouting.  
It didn’t look like much of a thought went into it when Luffy jumped down onto the slope to run to her, effectively losing his balance on the wet grass as well and falling flat on his face. There was a long pause where he didn’t move and Yura just stared at the back of his head, unsure of what had just happened. Then his face lifted out of the mud, sporting impressive amounts of dirt on it as well as a spectacular bloody nose. Their eyes met for a second until he broke into an ear-piercing sob. He cried snot and water, leaving almost clean trails down his red cheeks. 

“Oh no,” Yura whined, half because she was afraid he was actually hurt, half because she feared the whole village would march their way thinking someone was dying. She climbed up to him, careful now so she wouldn’t fall again. Luffy was still lying in the mud, completely lost in his crying. 

Back at the orphanage, children often cried. Mostly the new ones, afraid of their new home and missing whatever life they had had before. Yura couldn’t much understand it back then, since there was no ‘before’ for her, but over time she had figured out what made the cries quieter or stop entirely. So not knowing what else to do, she pulled Luffy out of the dirt and into her arms. Since he was so short, she could just wrap her arms around him, entirely engulfing him in a hug. His head was pressed into her already ruined shirt. His sobs were muffled, and he gasped for air in between them. But eventually his little hands clung to her as well.

“It’s okay, Luffy,” she said, extremely unsure if this was helping at all, “you’re fine.” 

To be honest, she didn’t know if he was fine. She should probably check him over. Yura really hoped it was nothing bad; anything beyond bruises and scratches was out of her field of expertise.

A couple minutes passed until he seemed to calm down a bit – at least down to slow running tears and sniffing snot and blood back up repetitively but aggressively. Yura took a step back to examine the boy. His nose had stopped bleeding, but his snot had an unhealthy pinkish tint that looked entirely disgusting. He didn’t seem to die from it, though.

“Did you hurt yourself somewhere?” she asked, hesitating slightly. He just looked up at her, sniffing.

With a sigh she took one of his arms in her hands, poking at random spots, holding it into the sunlight to see better, and bending at his elbow and wrist. He didn’t cry out again and she couldn’t see anything out of place, so she did the same with the other arm and then checked his legs as well. Luffy didn’t complain and just stared at her while she did her work. When she was crouched down to poke at his knee caps, he held onto her for balance. 

“My face hurts,” he said quietly. It was a stubborn tone, as if he hated to admit it – and he probably did. 

“Where?” Yura asked, peeking up at him. Luffy’s hand came up to rub at his forehead slightly but he drew it back as soon as he made contact. 

“There. And my nose. And chin.”

Yura stood back up, angling his chin this way and that but it was no use.

“We need to get back and clean you up,” she declared, “I can’t see anything with all that mud on your face.” He just nodded.

It took them a while to carefully climb out of the trench – no one of them wanted another fall in the water but it was super slippery still. Yura didn’t feel like adventuring anymore for today. This had been a disaster. No fun at all. It was easy to find their way back, the trampled grass led the way. Now that the shock was over, she could feel her butt hurting again. With every step a little pain shot up her back, but it was bearable and she didn’t want to complain to Luffy. The path wasn’t big enough to walk next to each other, so Yura went first again. This time she made sure to look where she was going, but turned her head every few seconds to check that Luffy was still right behind her. They walked in silence, both mulling over their own little things. Eventually – and she told herself it just was a lot easier so she didn’t have to look back so often – Yura grabbed Luffys hand. He looked up briefly, huge eyes meeting hers before she stubbornly looked away again. But his fingers wrapped around hers in response and they made the rest of the way back like this, afraid they would lose each other if they let go.

***

It was still late afternoon when they arrived at Party’s bar so Makino was definetly still working. It was natural to come home but now that they were here Yura suddenly didn’t know what to do. She didn’t want Makino to see them like that – to see that they had gotten into trouble. Maybe she wouldn’t let them go adventuring any more. Maybe she would thing it was Yura’s fault that Luffy was hurt. But mainly she just hated the face the woman made when she was worried, especially if it was directed at her. 

“Let’s go around to the back,” Yura said quietly, not waiting for Luffy’s response before dragging him along. There was a backdoor to the house, so you didn’t have to cross the bar every time you wanted to get into the flat above. Yura still liked the front door better, even if it was probably the longer way. But this time she was glad for the other entrance. 

“Okay, Makino can’t hear usso we must be super quiet now, yeah?” she told Luffy, who’s eyes immediately sparkled.

“Like ninjas,” he said and nodded knowingly. 

“What?”

He made a weird looking sign with his hands, wrapping his one hand around the index and middle finger of the other.

“Ninjas!” he declared again and crouched down to sneak into the house.

It looked silly, but fun and effective, so Yura followed him. She tried to copy the hand motion but wasn’t sure if she got it right. The door to the bar was slightly open and noise and light filtered into the small hallway. They passed it as quickly as possible, head constantly rotating to see any threats to their great plan. But Makino was busy and no one else was allowed back here.  
The next challenge was the stairs. It was an old wooden one, word down by years of usage. Luffy went first setting each foot carefully on the next step before putting his weight on it. Yura was right behind him. It worked perfectly well until one step – the sixth from the top, Yura should have warned him! – creaked below him. They froze in their movements, head snapping arount to the open door again. 

Nothing happened.

Suddenly panicky the two children looked at each other and as if on cue ran up the rest of the stairs like the devil was after them. Yura had a key for the apartment door and messily shoved it into the keyhole.

“Hurry up!” Luffy complained, earning a shove. Then the door was open and immediately thrown shut as soon as they were past it. The two leaned against it from the inside, sighing heavily.  
A high-five was exchanged.

“Like ninjas!” Luffy exclaimed.

“The best ones!” Yura replied.

By now Yura knew where everything was. Different plans were made and discarded until they figured it would be the easiest to just take a bath right away and look for injuries later.  
Makino actually had a bathtub with a showerhead, and Luffy and Yura were quick to get out of their dirty clothes, eager to lose the mud. Luffy climbed in first and tried to reach the showerhead above, in vain. He couldn’t know that the trick was to climb on the sink right next to the tub to be tall enough to grab it. Sometimes Makino remembered to leave it low enough for her, but most times she forgot. Yura never mentioned it. She pulled down the hose and turned the water on. It took her a couple of minutes, soap, shampoo and all her willpower to get Luffy somewhat clean and then a bit more to rinse herself off as well. He complained less that she thought, especially since the hot water ran out in the middle of the process, but aside from a couple surprised yelps nothing happened. Eventually, they were both wrapped in clean towels and sat on the floor in the middle of the flat. Yura had retrieved a small first aid kit from under the sink, but there weren’t many injuries to attend to. Luffy’s nose seemed okay again and the only thing that seemed wrong was the giant bump on his forehead and a couple scratches from the grass that she covered in colorful band aids. It really was a privilege, Yura didn’t use the boring brown ones for him. But she felt guilty for his fall and also-

“Thanks for trying to get to me by the way, “ she said quietly, putting a blue band aid on his shin. He just fell because he wanted to help her when her leg was bleeding after all.

For the first time for what seemed like hours he truly grinned. 

“It’s fine, I wasn’t really much of a help. Sorry. I’ll look out for you better from now on.” 

As if sealing the promise, he took the package from her hands, and covered the gash on her leg up with a bright red band aid.  
Yura smiled as well, taking in the color. “Thanks. I will do the same, Luffy.”

They took turns putting more on each other eventually just fell asleep where they were.  
This was how Makino found them in the evening: sprawled out on the living room floor, sprinkled with greens and blues and yellows, scratched up from head to toe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What a good idea to start a fic when writing my master thesis. I'll try to juggle both but its just.. so much.. oh god.


	5. Freedom

“This is enough, you can barely see anymore!” Makino exclaimed. By now she was fairly exasperated because for the past week she had tried to make Yura understand that she really needed a haircut. Now, obviously there had been haircuts at the orphanage. And this was precisely the reason she absolutely didn’t want to get one. The women had put practicality over beauty – not that little kids had a real concept of beauty – and so they had simply cut off the hair without any care. The girls got a straight cut just were their chin ended, the boys were graced with a buzzcut. The result was a monotonous mass of children in dirty clothes, moving as a sea of bobs and headgehog hair.

Leaving the orphanage behind meant that Yura’s hair was now free to grow however it wanted. Just like Yura herself was. She had looked at the other kids in the village and was amazed at the long flowy curls of a redhaired girl or the wavy fringe of a boy. Not being forced in this kind of uniform made her feel free and, in a strange way, cared for. By now her hair actually went down to her clavicle; a fact she was fiercly proud of. And now Makino wanted to take this away? “No!” she screamed back, ducking below the bar counter as if Makino couldn’t find her there. 

“What even is the problem? Come on, I promise I’ll be careful!”

Next to them, Luffy sat on the barstool, sipping his juice. He followed the scene with interest. Who could blame him, really? It was a rare occurance that Makino and her adopted little girl fought like this. But he knew better than to interfere. His own mop of hair was curling over his ears as well. Yura and him agreed on most things on principle by now. So if she didn’t want a haircut then Luffy sure as hell didn’t want one either. But so far he was out of the question.

“I like my hair like this!” Yura screamed again, suppressing the urge to brush some of it out of her eyes. Makino sighed. 

“I see you squinting through it all the time!” she argued, “and what about yesterday when it got tangled in the bushes? Or last week?”

It was true that Makino spent a significant amount of time brushing out the knots and twigs after a long day of adventuring. Yura almost felt a bit guilty for causing her work. Almost. The thought of the bob cut was far worse.

“You have long hair as well!” Yura exclaimed and briefly appeared from under the counter to point an accusing finger at the green braid Makino sported.

“Yes but I keep it out of the way!”

There was a pause.

Then, after a second, Yura had come up with the best and unbeatable argument.

“I can do that too.”

Makino crossed her arms. “And how so?”

Another beat of silence. The barmaid sighed.

“Fine, I’ll keep it long if you want to. We’ll figure something out, alright? But I still need to cut you split ends. It will look better and grow faster.”

“You promise?”

“Yes I promise. Come on.”

Reluctantly, Yura followed her upstairs. She trusted Makino and a promise was a promise after all. Just before she reached the top of the stairs, she heard the woman call out again.

“You too Luffy, don’t think you can get away that easily. Come on.”

***

Makino wasn’t new to this, that much was clear. She did quick work but really made sure to only cut the smallest amount off. But she took her time with Luffy, making sure that he didn’t look like a kid living in a garbage can – a look he seemed to favor most of the time.   
Then, another hour was spent trying different hair bands and clips on Yura. Halfway through, Luffy got so bored he left to go play outside. Yura could understand this, but was also too invested in a solution to her problem to feel guilty about it. Finally, it was Makino who tied up the front section of her her in a bun, therefore leaving most of her hair untouched, but the fringe part out of her face. It was perfect.  
However, when Yura went out of the house to play with Luffy, giddy and predictably finding him nearby, waiting for her, he burst out laughing when he saw her.

“Why do you have an onion on your head?” he asked between laughs, rolling on the floor. It took her a few seconds to grab his ear and pull him back to his feet like that. His laughs turned into howls and then into screamed complains.

“Stop laughing! You always think about food, Lu! At least my face doesn’t look like a pancake like yours!”

She let go, only for him to charge at her, throwing insults back. It wasn’t a serious fight, but they both pretended it was about great honor, refusing to give up until they lie in a panting heap on the floor.

***

By now they knew the meadows around the village pretty well. After the first disaster, Makino wanted to know what they’d been up to. They explained what happened and she told them these trenches were called dykes. Two times a year the waterlevel from the sea rose a bit higher than usual. To prevent the village from being flooded, the meadows were full of those artificial trenches to take most of the water. Sometimes, part of the meadows got flooded as well and no one was allowed to built on them for those reasons.   
What this meant for Luffy and Yura was that they had all of this land for themselves. They got to know every single trench and kept an eye on the water levels. This time of year, the water just reached their ankles. In it they found frogs and little fish that didn’t make it out in time and a million little tadpoles hurrying around. “Look, this one even has little legs!” Yura shouted gleefully, trying to scoup up the little creature. They played a game of who could find the oldest tadpole, although Luffy was more interested in catching as many as possible at the same time. 

“What do you think it’s going to do when it grows up?” Yura asked, trying to balance the animal with enough water in her hands, so it could breathe. Luffy looked over her shoulder, rubbing his chin in serious thought.

“Easy,” he answered, “it’s gonna be a pirate.”

Yura rolled her eyes. Luffy seemed to be obsessed with pirates lately, even more than he was with ninjas. When he was at Party’s he always listened to the story the sailors brought in with them, clinging to their words like a lifeline. 

“You and your pirates,” she sighed, “maybe it’s going to become the first frog doctor ever instead.”

“No. It wants to be a pirate.” He seemed sure of it. 

“What’s so great about pirates anyway?” she sulked, liking the picture of a frog in a lab coat way better. “The pirates at the bar are always loud and smelly. Some of them are mean to Makino. She said I should always be careful when talking to one.” She set the tadpole free, back into its home, to his many siblings. Or maybe they weren’t siblings but just a bunch of orphaned frog babies. She sat up, looking over at Luffy, who had a dreamy smile on his face. She knew the look by now. 

“Pirates are the best,” he started his rant, “they can do whatever they want. And they can go wherever they want. I will be one when I grow up. I’ll be the best pirate ever.” 

Despite not really agreeing with anything he said, she found herself copying his smile. He was impossible when he was like that. His belief unshakable and unchangeable. 

“What would you even do as a pirate?” she asked, egging him on despite knowing better. He beamed at her.

“I will sail around the whole world, with the best crew ever. And no one can stop me because I will be-“

“Pirate king?”

“Yeah.”

“Like Gold Roger?”

“Yeah!”

“Sure, Lu. I’d like to see you try.” Teasing him about it was one of her favourite games. It was a sensitive topic because no one seemed to take him seriously and he hated that. The truth was, Yura didn’t mean it as sarcastically as she probably should. She really liked to see him try, because if he cared that much, she did too. Only that pirates were notorious criminals and thugs and looking at the grubby men at the bar it was nearly impossible picturing Luffy as one of them. 

“You can come with me,” he said suddenly, taking her by surprise.

“What? Where?”

“To the Grand Line. You can come with me and be a pirate too!”

“I don’t know, Lu.” But he seemed to like the idea and was spiraling into happy determination quickly.

“It’s gonna be great. I’ll be captain and you can be my first mate. You’ll be the first mate of the pirate king!”

“Sounds cool if you say it like that, I guess.”

And it did. It really did. She could see the world, beyond the orphanage and Foosha. She could see mountains higher than Colubo. And stick to Luffy, making sure he doesn’t get in trouble. Which he will, because he’d be a pirate.   
And looking at his bright smile it almost sounded like a solid plan. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> look at them catching frogs, no care in the world. i wonder how long this lasts :^)


	6. Red

Pirates anchoring in Foosha weren’t a sensation or anything particularly upsetting to the villagers. If anything, they were a reliable and constant source of income which helped their case considerably. Obviously, some of the pirate crews acted out. They were criminals after all, so you couldn’t exactly expect a working moral compass. Pirates like that believed that they could take what they want for free and without consequences. They were also the ones least hesitant to shed some blood, just for show. But there was nothing in the small town to start wars over. If a crew wanted trouble they went around the island to Goa kingdom. But the pirates coming to Foosha were happy to catch a bit of rest, knowing about the isolated state of the village. The people living here had a polite and friendly disposition and welcomed any stranger with open arms, until they were given a reason not to. Still, Makino kept an eye on the wanted posters in the newspaper and made Yura remember the faces every morning. The little girl helped out in the bar fairly often now, since it was so busy lately, and Makino wanted her to recognize the bad guys as soon as they walked through the door. Yura didn’t have to remember their names, but did so anyway. If those criminals were important enough to have a bounty, their names surely were equally important. Besides, she was still collecting names. After the trees and plants and most of the common animals around she felt like pirates names were a logical new focus. If Luffy really was serious about becoming one, then he should know his competitors for the title of king. And because Yura knew he wouldn’t bother to learn them, it felt like her duty as first mate to do so instead. She was diligent and quick in learning them, keeping track of them and mentally crossing them out when there had been a reported arrest or execution in the newspaper. And this, precisely, was the reason she immediately recognized the man entering the bar with his crew one Thursday evening.

Yura was busy cleaning glasses. It was relatively calm at Party’s, a fact she was grateful for because her and Luffy had been running around the fields the whole day and she was tired. Still, Yura helped at the bar, at least in the evenings, after dark when Makino didn’t allow being outside anyway. In front of her, Luffy was still sitting at the counter, equally exhausted from their day. His head lay on the counter, motionless, his eyes half-closed, drifting off to dream land any second now.

But then the door swung open, squeaking in its hinges. The first one inside was a lean man, followed by what seemed like ten rowdy sailors, chatting and joking among each other. They crowded around the tables, shoving them together to create one big group. The lean man made his way to the counter, looking through the room, before directing his gaze at the little girl in front of him. His red hair fell in his face as he leaned down to her a bit. “Aren’t you a little young to manage a bar by yourself?” he asked, honestly confused. Yura continued cleaning the glasses which took her whole concentration. When the milky spot on the glass currently in her hands didn’t vanish even after her determined scrubbing, she set it down and looked up. The man was still looking at her, patiently waiting for an answer. She didn’t trust him, even if he didn’t seem dangerous. “Aren’t you a little old to be interested in little girls’ business?” she replied. Yura had burrowed this exact sentence from a guest at the bar, who had been dropping it in a quite similar situation the other day. The other costumers had howled with laughter. She didn’t quite get the joke, but it must have been an adult thing and she wanted to prove she was grown-up too.  
It seemed to work. The red-haired man was dumbfounded but his men behind him burst out laughing immediately, cheering at her and patting their captain on the back. 

“She got you there, captain,” a big man in a striped green shirt said while munching on a piece of meat. Where did he even get that? 

The captain smiled and held up his hands. “Alright, I’ll back up. Is there a chance my men and I can get some beer, though?”

Yura smiled. She smelled money. “Of course,” she said and went to get them their drinks. 

She was halfway through the order, when Makino appeared in the backdoor, drying her hands on a kitchen towel. “Sorry for the wait,” she exclaimed when she saw the new guests but soon realized that Yura had been taking care of them by herself. Makino placed her hand on the girl’s head as she passed her, ruffling her hair slightly. Yura tried to duck out of the way and Makino used that momentum to gently shove the girl to the side to take her place at the beer tap.

“I didn’t expect that many new costumers,” she apologized again when bringing the rest of the drinks to the table. The captain was still leaning at the counter, watching the scene with a slight smile.

“It’s fine,” he said, “the little one ran the place pretty well.” 

Makino chuckled while Yura could feel her ears turning pink. Pulling her shoulders up she tried to shrink back into her shirt and under his gaze she was suddenly very aware of how she must look to him. Luffy had said she looked like there was an onion on her head, did he think that too? Yura was also wearing one of Makino’s shirts because they were already worn and soft and reminded her of home. Besides, she didn’t see the point in buying clothes she will eventually grow out of anyway. So Yura thought she just had to grow into Makino’s shirt instead. But obviously that meant her little body was almost drowning in it now.

Busy with her own anxiety, she didn’t notice Luffy, who’s eyes were glued on the newcomers since the moment they had entered. “Are you guys pirates?” he asked with hope laced in his voice. He must have already known the answer deep down, because despite just asking, there were already stars in his eyes. Not only were they pirates, but they seemed approachable and nice, so Lu surely wouldn’t waste a second to bombard them with questions.

The captain puffed out his chest, welcoming the child’s wonder with pride. “Yes we are, kid!” he confirmed. “We are-“

“The Red Hair Pirates.” 

The captain turned around again, eyes back on Yura. She did her best not to shrink under his curious gaze. “You’re Red-Haired Shanks,” she elaborated, after a second. She could have seemed confident in the answer, if it weren’t for her twiddling hands and drawn-up shoulders. Yura knew she was right, but suddenly she was very aware that she had interrupted the pirate. Maybe he didn’t like that. Makino always said she should be very polite to pirates, because some of them got really angry. “Um,” she tried, looking up to Makino next to her, but when she didn’t find any help there, she had to look back at Shanks. “Sorry!”

When he answered, Shanks’ voice was loud, but it wasn’t out of anger. “That’s exactly right, kid!” he exclaimed, chest puffed again like a proud peacock. The rest of the bar had quieted down. Everyone sensed a spectacle. But Luffy was the first one to react to the news.

“Really?!” he beamed, jumping up to stand on the bar stool. His little body almost vibrated from excitement. Shanks grinned at him.

“I just said it’s true. So you heard of us?”

“No, never heard of you guys!” For some reason Luffy’s voice didn’t waver. Still starstruck, unaware of the crew face-palming around him.

“What do you mean?” Shanks screeched, and it was a pretty funny sound for the suave pirate captain, “why are you so excited then? You should know us!”

Behind him, Makino had left the bar to bring the rest of the drinks to the table the crew sat at. The fond smile never left her face. Maybe she didn’t see a threat in the pirates. The rest of the people seemed at ease at her sunny display. The chatter started up again. When moving back behind the bar, she ruffled Luffy’s hair. He didn’t even notice.

“Luffy here loves pirates,” she explained, “but he isn’t really good with the names.”

He grinned, clearly enjoying the attention. “Yura knows you, so ýou must be important,” he answered. You could already see the cogs turning in his brain. There were a million things he wanted to ask and he wouldn’t leave before asking at least half of them. “Did you see the Grand Line?”

An obvious choice for the first one. This could take a while. Yura grabbed a glass and filled it with juice. She sat it down in front of her friend. He barely noticed. 

“We sure did, kid,” Shanks answered. The interest clearly boosted his ego again. “We sailed the Grand Line and the four Blues.”

“Oh God, here we go.” The voice came from one of the crew mates, a tall and dark guy with long black hair. He was smoking a cigarette, smiling as he exhaled a cloud. Yura didn’t like cigarettes. It was one of those adult things she didn’t get. It smelled bad, it made your teeth yellow; Makino even said you could get ill from it. But most of the pirates still smoked, so there was no use trying to ban it at the bar. Maybe it was part of the criminal life. She hoped Luffy wouldn’t start eventually.

“Shut up, Ben, and let me talk!” Shanks said, brushing his crewmate off before turning back to Luffy. “The kid wants to hear it! So. We sailed the Grand Line, alright? The whole damn ocean-“

“Language!” Makino’s attempt to protect the children’s ears was heart-warming, but ultimately no use. Still, Shanks grinned at her apologetically.

“Sorry, Miss-“ his voice went up at the end of the sentence, like a question. The captain raised his eyebrows, propping an elbow up at the counter an slightly leaning towards her. Behind him, a guy with curly hair and a long nose snorted into his beer, watching his Captain. 

Makino looked at him, contemplating. “Makino,” she introduced herself and from her place next to her, Yura could see that her ears had turned pink. What was that about? Was she embarrassed about her name? Yura liked Makino’s name. Shanks seemed to agree, because when he repeated it, he drew it out with much more care than necessary. 

“Did you fight Sea Kings?” Luffy’s high voice broke up whatever this was. He pouted at being ignored by the pirates and demanded attention. Shanks was easily brought back to topic.

“Did we-? Oh you bet. Giant ones, with teeth twice as big as you and yellow eyes that glowed in the dark! If it weren’t for those peepers we wouldn’t have seen the thing in the dark and it would have swallowed the whole ship at once.”

“No way! How did you fight it?”

“Sliced it in half.” At that Shanks tapped the hilt of a sword leaning at the counter next to him. 

“Cool!” Luffy beamed, eyes still sparkling. He immediately made a grab for the weapon, wanting to try it out. Shanks snatched it out of his reach immediately.

“Hands off!”, he said, much to Luffy’s dismay, “that’s not for children.”

“I’m not a child! I’m a man!” The crew laughed. Of course, this only made Luffy angrier and with red cheeks, he pointed at the captain. “I could take you in a fight!” 

Shanks laughed even harder. “Sure, kid. You can’t even reach me without standing on a bar stool. What do you wanna do? Poke at my knees?”

“I’ll beat you! You’ll see! Right now!” Luffy was about to actually fight the pirate. This wasn’t good, even if the pirates seemed relatively friendly.

“Luffy, don’t be stupid!” Yura called, trying to grab him by his shirt. She had to climb over half the counter to reach him and he continuously tried to get out of her grip. She grind her teeth, not letting go. She tried to smile at Shanks in a reassuring manner but it probably turned out more like a grimace. “He’s sorry. He doesn’t know what he’s doing sometimes.”

Shanks just looked at them with a grin, sipping his drink. He didn’t seem angry. Good.

“I know what I’m doing! I’m beating his ass!” Luffy screamed.

“Luffy!” Makino intervened, disapproving of his choice of words. Yura looked back at her, hoping for a little help with her struggling friend. 

“Sorry, kid,” Shanks quipped, taking another sip, “but I don’t want any trouble with Miss Makino.” Another grin in her direction. Another blush from Makino. But he turned back to Luffy. “And I don’t fight anyone smaller than a bar counter.” 

“You stupid-!” Luffy jumped again, almost reaching Shanks with his little fists. Yura had to put in all of her weight to hold him down, but the combination of her mass and his momentum dragged them both to the ground. They landed with a loud thump but the sound was almost drowned by the laughter around them. 

This was going to be a long night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally!! To my knowledge Shanks and the crew stayed at Foosha for about a year so ..yeah hes gonna stick around for a while here too.


	7. Green

There was a certain kind of routine that established in Yura’s life. And there was one variable in the center of it. Shanks was no doubt a man who loved being the center of everything, but with this one he probably didn’t even realize what he was doing. Yura didn’t know if this was a good or a bad thing – it certainly was frustrating. And that frustration didn’t do much for Shanks’ image in the eyes of the little girl.  
After a couple days it had become clear that the pirate crew would stick around for a while, unlike what she had hoped for. Normally, pirates weren’t the type for constancy, fearing the ties and commitment that a longer stay would bring. Wasn’t this the reason that most of them went to sea in the first place? But something about Foosha attracted the Red Hair crew. From their stories you could tell that they had been through a lot, so Yura couldn’t blame them for taking some kind of vacation in the peaceful village. But she also suspected that one reason to stay here was a green-haired woman behind the bar – at least for the Captain. He seemed to be awfully friendly to Makino. And Yura was suspicious of that. Of course, everyone was friendly to her – how couldn’t they? – but Shanks was friendly in a different way that made the woman blush and the crew laugh all the time. Yura didn’t get it. But she couldn’t escape it either. Party’s Bar was the most popular one of its kind in the village, so it wasn’t surprising that the pirates found their way here every single day. God knew what they were doing the rest of the time. And as much as she hated the sight of the crew by now, Luffy was loving it. He wanted to hear every story. He wanted to spend all his time with the crew. He would ask if he could go with them every day (and while Yura knew that there was no reasonable way they would take a little boy with them, she felt that she could breathe easier with every negative answer). The problem with Luffy’s determination was that it didn’t allow him any adventures besides that. He didn’t want to go out as much and didn’t care to find out what the other side of the trenches by the meadow held. Anything on this mundane island went gray and bleak in comparison to Captain Shanks’ bright red head. And there was nothing Yura could do, except help out in the bar in her increased spare time – which meant seeing even more of the pirate crew.

** 

“And then he told me about this one time when these other pirates were about to attack them, but as soon as they saw their Jolly Roger they ran off scared!”

“I know, Lu.”

“Oh! Or that other time when the marine was on their heels but Shanks just cut their whole ship with a single blow!”

“I’m sure he did, Lu.”

Luffy paused in his vivid recreation of a heroic Captain Shanks, his makeshift sword in the form of a large tree branch still high in the air.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, clearly confused by her lack of enthusiasm. The truth was that this was the first time in what felt like ages that Luffy actually took a breath in his many retellings of the Red Hair Adventures. Ever since the crew came to the bar, the boy had been stuck to their sides as much as possible. And even if they weren’t around, Yura still had to suffer their presence in every other sentence Luffy was saying. 

“Nothing’s wrong,” she promised. It was a half-hearted answer but as his friend she tried not to ruin his great time with realism. Luffy caught on nonetheless.

“I don’t believe you,” he said, now jabbing his stick into the ground so he could lean on it properly. “You are no fun these days.” Yura shrugged at him. “I mean really, we have actual, real life pirates in the village that are actually nice enough to talk to – aren’t you excited?”

“Jesus, Luffy, did you ever think that maybe Shanks might not be as cool and tough as he says he is?!”

He gaped at her with open indignation. “Yes he is! Did you not hear what I just said about the marine ship? One blow! One!”

“That’s what he tells you.”

“Why would he lie about that?”

“Uh, I don’t know maybe because he is a pirate? Pirates lie.”

“Not all pirates do.”

There was a pause in which Yura and Luffy just stared at each other challengingly. Yura narrowed her eyes at him. “Name one.”

“Shanks.”

“I doubt that. And doesn’t count.”

Luffy shifted his eyes around, as if he might find another example flying around in the air. Yura was just about to declare her obvious victory, when his face lit up in triumph.

“Me.”

She scoffed. “That’s because you are just really bad at it. You would if you were able to.”

“Not true.”

“True.”

“NOT true.”

“Yes it is. And you aren’t even a pirate yet, so it doesn’t count either way. Actually, if you can’t lie, you gonna be a really shitty one even when you’re older.”

In a blink of an eye she was on the ground. It took Yura another moment to realize what had happened, and when she did, she looked up at her friend in disbelief. Luffy stood above her, his fists clenched. His face was contorted in rage, in a way she had rarely ever seen. Then again, he had never deliberately pushed her before either. 

“You take that back!” he demanded. In a fleeting thought, Yura was glad he had abandoned the stick. But that was silly – he would never use an actual weapon against her. Still, the intensity of his anger was surprising. She didn’t really mean anything by her words, but her pride as the older kid prevented her from saying that. So instead of apologizing, she went to attack back.

“No,” she clarified. She got up again slowly, drawing herself up to her full height. The twenty centimeters she had over him made her feel incredibly smug. She realized suddenly, that she was mad at him. Really mad. So she drew closer to him and with all her strength pushed him back, right at his chest. It sent him to the ground. Just like her before.

“No, I won’t take it back. You aren’t a pirate. You’re a child. A baby. A little kid who can’t see the lies of some dirty arrogant criminal. And if you go on believing everything you hear, you’ll be dead before you even come close to the Grand Line.” 

Luffy clambered back to his feet, but didn’t bother drawing himself up completely before charging at her. The fact that he was smaller didn’t mean much when he used his full body weight to tackle her. “Shut up!”, he screamed, now sitting on top of her, trying to reach her face. Yura thanked the gods that her limbs were a bit longer than his. With not many other options, she was stuck trying to keep him away from her. Luffy’s short nails dragged across her wrists in an attempt to remove them from his shirt. “Will you start crying again if I don’t?” she snarled back, ignoring the pang of guilt that curled up in her stomach. She was too angry to have a conscience right now. 

Luffy finally changed tactics after realizing he wasn’t going to get near her face. With a speed she didn’t expect from him, he swung his fists, connecting them to whatever bodypart of hers she could reach. Yura’s arms buffered most of the hits, but she could already feel bruises forming at her sides and forearms. “You’re just jealous because Shanks is cooler than you!” he barked, “because I like him more!” Yura tried to ignore how much it hit home. She hated that he had looked right through her. But Luffy was too distracted in his assault. Finally, she managed to get out her knees from under him. Drawing them up to her chest she set her feet against his stomach and kicked him away. He landed on his butt. She didn’t waste any time to be glad to be free again. He was in the process of getting to his feet again already, so she dove forward, to make a grab at his ankle, effectively dragging him back to her by it. He was too surprised to block the punch she sent as soon as his face was in reach. Her fist connected with his cheek forcefully, sending a sharp pain up her thumb, into her fingers and wrist. 

“Fuck!” she cried, spewing the first bad word that came to her mind. Yura drew back on reflex, curling her hurting hand against her chest like a wounded animal. Why had no one ever told her how much hitting someone hurt?! Wasn’t the point to hurt the other person? Tears sprung to her eyes immediately. It was a physical reflex, and as much as she tried, she couldn’t force them away. Not wanting to look like a crybaby, she turned around, facing away from Luffy, who was still on his back, clutching his face.  
Yura didn’t know how long they stayed like that. The only sound she could hear was their heavy breathing. Finally, it was Luffy’s voice that broke the silence.

“I don’t actually like him better than you,” he sniffed. When Yura turned around, he was still looking up to the sky above him. His hands were no longer covering his face, but she doubted it was because it didn’t hurt anymore. At this angle, she couldn’t see much of it, but there was blood running down his jaw. A nosebleed. Yura felt awful. At least she had hurt herself just as much – maybe she deserved that. She tried to smile. 

“It’s okay. He is pretty cool.”

Luffy turned his head her way. Yeah, definitely a nosebleed. He was crying too – big tears running down the sides of his face. “You’re way cooler,” he said, matter-of-factly, “because you’re in the coolest pirate crew there is.”

Now, Yura had to actually smile. “And which one would that be, Captain?” she asked. There was a pause.

“I don’t have a name yet,” Luffy admitted, “but as soon as I have one, we will be unstoppable.”

She stood up with great effort. Her legs were fine, but the bruises at her sides hurt with every movement. She hadn’t even known you needed that much of your body just to walk. Slowly, she went over to Luffy, stretching her uninjured hand towards him.

“Come on then, you unstoppable pirate, let’s go home.”

**

The way back took them way longer than expected. They joked around a bit, but didn’t really have the energy to put their heart to it. Yura thought about properly apologizing the whole time, but she couldn’t find the right words. It would have just been embarrassing, so eventually, she let it go. Luffy didn’t seem to be particularly mad at her but for some reason that made it even worse.  
Her worrying meant she missed a crucial part of their following plan. When they finally arrived at the bar, she stopped dead in her tracks, looking up at the building. Luffy came to a halt next to her.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, looking up to her.

“I- I don’t know what to tell Makino,” she admitted. Luffy’s eyes became huge.

“Shit! I forgot about that! What do we do now?”

They were both covered in dirt, blood and bruises. There was no way they could just cross the bar without anyone noticing. Makino would be so mad when she saw them and they couldn’t come up with a good excuse.

“We could sneak in through the backdoor,” she suggested. They had already done it once and it had worked. So that truly was their best bet at the moment. Luffy seemed to come to the same conclusion.

It all went pretty smoothly. They got in, closed the door quietly behind them. The door to the bar was open a slit, just as always, but Yura thought they had good chances getting past it. But as soon as they tried, it flew open. Makino was looking down at them.

“What in heaven’s sake happened to you two?” she asked incredulously. Yura looked over at her friend, trying to see him with Makino’s eyes. It looked bad. She definitely didn’t look much better herself.

“Uhm, we… I..”, she stammered, but didn’t really find a good story to tell. 

“Hm? What’s that? Did someone attack you?” Makino’s fate in them was relieving, but sadly misplaced. 

“No!” Luffy insisted immediately. You could say what you want but he didn’t care for putting the blame on anyone else when it was him who did something stupid. “We-“ he stopped apruptly when he realized he couldn’t go on without incriminating them both. He sucked in his cheeks, pushing his lips out in what looked a lot like the beak of a heron. “We fell.”

Trust the little gremlin to find the worst possible explanation and leave Yura the aftermath.

Makino looked at them suspiciously. “Both of you?” she shoved her face directly into Yura’s field of vision, coming nose to nose with her. “Do you want to tell me what actually happened?”

To Yura’s disdain, neither Luffy nor some benevolent spirits were on her side today. Instead, the new voice joining the conversation kicked her right into the pits of misery.

“Whoa, what happened there?” Shanks appeared behind Makino with curious eyes. He seized both of them, taking in their bruises and injuries. “Did you get into a fight?”

Makino’s head whipped around so fast, Yura wondered if she felt dizzy. “A fight?” she shrieked, “With who?”

Again, there was no truthful explanation. Luffy was no help either, so Yura took matters into her hands. 

“Some of the children from the other side of the village,” she said confidently. It didn’t even take a second for Luffy to open his mouth to complain – the boy really didn’t have it in him to lie, or let her do it instead. 

“But that wasn’t-“ he started, when Yura drew his head into an embrace, ruffling his hair in an exaggerated manner. 

“They said Luffy had broken one of their toys – but he didn’t – and we fought over it.”

By now, the boy in question had probably realized that Yura was actually trying to save them both, so he shut up and nodded along as much as he could given that Yura was still holding his head in an iron grip. “It’s all settled,” she added then, because she didn’t want Makino to get involved in a business that didn’t exist.  
The woman looked at them for a while. Then exhaled.

“Alright, I’ll get the first aid kit,” she huffed and went upstairs.

They were left with relief, a guilty conscience for lying and a pirate crew in the bar. Shanks was still standing right before them, a grin etched on his face. It was annoying.

“You’re not allowed to be behind the bar,” Yura pointed out. And it was true: the door to the flat was behind the counter. Shanks had made his way to them, into the forbidden zone. He didn’t seem to care. He just shrugged. 

“I’m a pirate remember?” he quipped, “I do what I want.”

“I noticed.” Yura answered, clearly miffed. Between her hands, Luffy was a star-struck idiot once again. He didn’t even mind that Shanks wasn’t paying him any attention right now. The captain crouched down to her. Yura was ready to throw another punch if he came too close. Hurting hand or not.

“And as a pirate, I’m also really good at lying. And smelling lies from seven miles away.”

She was so close to punching him. But she couldn’t, so instead she forced a “So what?” out of her mouth, drowning out Luffy’s coos of “Wow” and “Really?”.

Shanks held her gaze for a moment. She met it challengingly. He laughed.

“Nothing,” he finished, “but one advice, from one scoundrel to another: when you punch someone, take your thumb out of your fist or you’ll squash it first impact.” He held up his right hand, balling it to a fist, with his thumb on the outside. His left came up to tap the thumb pointedly, demonstrating what he meant. Yura noticed that there were scars all over it and wondered where each one came from.  
She looked down at her throbbing hand. Her thumb was angry red. She tried to flex it, but winced. Shanks followed her gaze. “Doesn’t look broken to me,” he assured, “but Luffy’s nose would have been if you did it right.” Now he actually went and ruffled her hair. But for some reason she wasn’t mad, but just stared up to him as he stood back up to his full height. He straightened the straw hat on his head. “Keep going and you’ll be throwing a solid punch in no time, kid. Maybe I’ll show you some day.”

And as he grinned again, Yura found that maybe he actually was a little bit cool. 


	8. A Real Pirate

After an eternity of nagging and begging, the Red Hair Pirates actually agreed to show Luffy – and by extention Yura – their ship. She was fairly sure it was Luffy’s first time on any ship bigger than a fishing boat. And a pirate ship on top of that. He radiated even more energy than usual. They had already been to the engine room, the quarters and the kitchen and were now at the bridge. The little boy was a bizarre mixture of too excited to leave a spot and not being able to wait to see the next one. As a result, he was constantly running around like he was being chased by bees, screaming giddily, touching everything. It was impossible to know if he actually heard what the pirates were saying, so most of the crew busied themselves with keeping him away from important instruments or various breakable items. Meanwhile, Yura hung back, determined in getting some useful information out of this. 

“Ben, what is this for?” she pointed and the man in question next to her picked up the complicated looking instrument. 

“It’s a sextant,” he explained and leaned down to her level. Considering his enormous height, he basically crouched down and was still on her eyelevel. His rifle clinked against the wooden planks on the floor. “You can figure out exactly where you are with that.” He nudged it in her direction. So far she was in awe of everything and also insanely terrified to break anything. She looked up to the pirate, not sure if she could handle the responsibility of actually touching something. Ben drew up his eyebrows and his cigarette glowed as he smiled around it. Yura used both hands to keep the thing –the sextant? - safe. It looked like a pizza slice made of metal grids, connected with a little telescope and multiple mirrors and lenses. The round edge had little numbers on them, like a ruler. You couldn’t draw a straight line with that one, though. She turned it in her hands, testing its weight and then tried to peer through the telescope. 

“I can’t see anything,” she giggled, twisting her head and torso around to get a better picture. With all the mirrors she didn’t even know what she was looking at. Someone’s arm. Some wood. Her view was actually split in half and each side was showing completely different things! She felt a bit dizzy, so she had to look away for a bit and blinked rapidly. Ben chuckled and took the cigarette from between his lips. He was still crouching, so it didn’t take him any effort to stub it out against the floor and put what was left of it back in its box. 

“Come here,” he said, turning his face away from her to huff the last smoke out in a different direction than her face. The pirate gently pulled Yura in front of him, turning her around. Now in front of her was the big window, showing the large deck, foremast and figurehead. Beyond it, she could see the endless water and bits of the coastline. Ben’s long limbs reached around her easily, helping her readjust the instrument. “Normally, you do this outside, but the sun is in a good spot so it might work. Try to find it.” Yura peered through the telescope again, trying to at least find the water. She heard him snapping some lenses into place and suddenly, the view was much darker. On one side of the mirror she was looking at the dark waves. She was pretty sure the other half showed the sky right now. A couple nudges and gentle shoves this way or that later, and Yura saw a bright spot in the lighter half. 

“Found it!” she exclaimed happily. 

“Ok great. Do you see the horizon on the other half?” 

“Uh-huh.” 

“Is it on the same level as the sun in the other?” 

“Nope. The sun is way higher.” Yura thought this was a weird question. Why would it be on the same level? But then Ben adjusted something again, and suddenly the distance shrinked. She gasped. 

“Yell when it’s on the same level, yeah?” 

The instrument clicked further and eventually, Yura gave the signal. Ben took the sextant from her and she turned around to him with a questioning glance. He held it out so that they could both have a look at the digits. “What does it say?” he asked, although he must have been able to read it just fine. The number in the middle was even enlarged by a little magnifying glass. 

“Three-Four” she answered, feeling smart for knowing the answer anyway. He nodded and her feeling grew. 

“What’s the time?” he called behind him. Yasopp was the first one to produce a watch from the depth of his jacket. The man grinned at them fondly when finally answering. Yura felt her cheeks burn in embarrassment. What was that look about? 

“Your number tells us how far the sun is away from the horizon, yeah? And with Yasopp’s time here we can ask the clever book over there where exactly in the world the two numbers meet. Well, you have to throw some more numbers around, but that’s the idea.” 

“And the book says we’re in Foosha?” Her eyes went big. Ben grinned and patted her on the head. His knees cracked when he stood up to but the sextant back. 

“Yeah, pretty much.” 

“That’s awesome!” 

He was already lighting the cigarette from earlier again. 

“Didn’t know you were good with kids,” Yasopp quipped and made his was outside the bridge. Yura suddenly realized that they were the only ones left. Luffy’s screeching came from outside now, along with the voices of Shanks, Lou and a couple others trying to keep the tiny boy at bay. 

“Shut the fuck up,” Ben threw back at his crewmate, but there was no malice in his voice. He followed the others and Yura ducked past him quickly to not be the last one to join. 

Luffy hung from the steering wheel, eyes cast upon a far horizon that only he could see. He wasn’t nearly tall enough to actually reach the floor like that, but it didn’t seem to bother him. But when Yura came closer, she actually saw a scowl on his face. What was that about? Shouldn’t he be happy? 

“But I want to!” Luffy declared, tightening his grip even further. Shanks groaned. 

“Forget it, kid. I already told you. Like, fifty times now.” 

“That’s so unfair!” 

The two continued bickering, while the rest of the crew gathered around them. A couple of the men wore something close to sympathy. The majority just loved to see Shanks suffer at the hands of a little banshee. 

“So he found out?” it was Yasopp’s voice again, keeping his voice quiet. Noone wanted to be dragged into this. 

“Yep,” a bulky man with sunglasses answered. Yura didn’t know his name yet, she mostly spoke to the same four of five of them. “Captain just spilled the beans.” 

“Oh lord. I told him to come clean days ago.” 

“We all did.” 

“He’s such a coward. I mean how old is the boy? Six?” 

“Five,” Yura intervened, because it should be noted that Luffy was not one but two years younger than her. It was important. 

“Five!” Lou rumbled, as if this conversation just got ten times better. She frowned up at him. “Oh shit, you missed the start of this right?” he said, and almost choked on the meat he was chewing. The pirates didn’t censor themselves on the best days, but when Makino wasn’t around they truly didn’t watch their mouth at all. 

“We’re leaving for a bit. Tomorrow morning,” Yasopp explained, because his friend still concentrated on not dying. When he saw Yura’s crestfallen face, he hurried to explain further. “Just for a couple days. We’re coming back soon, promise.” 

She thought that even from the nicest pirates in the whole world, a promise wasn’t really much to go on. They were still pirates. Her heart sunk into her stomach. Suddenly, she found she didn’t want them to leave. Shanks was still extremely annoying and occupied way too much of Luffy’s time, but still. They were fun. Makino smiled more with them around. Her thoughts were interrupted by a screech. 

“I wanna go too!” Luffy wailed. The whole crew flinched. 

“What would you even do?” tried Shanks, clearly at his wits end. “With your tiny size and spaghetti arms you can’t do anything! Should we just use you as an anchor or?” 

“I’m strong! I can help!” 

“You’re a kid!” 

“I’m not! I swear! I’m a man!” 

“You’re like six!” 

“Five,” Lou corrected helpfully. His captain flicked his wrist in the universal motion for ‘my point exactly’. Luffy just continued raging. 

Another groan in response. Shanks muttered something that sounded suspiciously like ‘I’m too old for this’, although he didn’t look very old at all. But Yura assumed he was an adult, and maybe that already qualified as ‘too old for this’. She knew best what Luffy could be like when he couldn’t have something. Him being this passionate about it made it worse. But she hadn’t found a way to deal with him like that either. And if anything this just showed again that Shanks was not as great and tough as he was saying. At all. 

“Okay, that’s enough,” he eventually said, clearly fed up with the boy. He grabbed him by his shirt, trying to get him away from the steering wheel, but Luffy just clung to it with all his strength. Shanks eventually switched his hands to pull the boys legs until they were caught in the weirdest and most awkward tug-of-war. 

“No! I wanna be a pirate! Let go! You can’t stop me!” 

It wasn’t the first time Shanks had heard this. “You don’t know what you’re talking about!” he ground back between his teeth. 

“Yes I do! I’ll be the best pirate! I’ll be better than you! I want to be a pirate, Shanks!” 

Suddenly, Shanks let go and Luffy smacked against the wheel. But he recovered quickly. The mood changed instantly. Even the crew went quiet to wait for what happens. “Luffy, you don’t even know what you’re saying. You’re too young to even know what that means.” 

“I know what it means! And I mean it! I’ll be pirate king!” 

There was a pause in which Shanks truly looked like he didn’t know what to say. This didn’t happen often and Yura tried to memorize every bit of it. Luffy stared him down. Was he actually winning? 

Then the corner of Shanks’mouth started quivering. A moment later, he burst out laughing and his crew was gone with him. 

“Pirate king? You? It takes a bit more than screaming your enemies deaf for that!” Shanks wiped at the corner of his eye, still at the border of having another fit. 

It was hard to watch. Yura knew how important this was to Luffy. The boy ducked his head to hide his red face. Even from meters away she could see his knuckles turning white against the wheel. He was trembling. She bit her lip, shuffling her feet anxiously. The pirates were still laughing. 

Suddenly, Luffy jumped back on the ground and bolted. “I’ll show you!” he screamed in anger. For a moment everyone thought he was running away, but he was making his way further into the ship. 

“Hey Captain, aren’t you afraid he’ll break something?” Lou asked. It was clear that Shanks hadn’t made this connection from the way his eyes were bulging as a response. “Shit! Don’t let him out of sight!” he yelped and everyone stumbled over their feet to follow the five-year-old-boy. Yura found herself alone on the deck. Should she follow them? She felt bad for leaving Luffy alone, but was afraid she would get lost in the giant belly of the ship herself. So instead, she went back to the gangplank and sat down. The others had to go this way when leaving the ship. 

She spent her time staring down into the deep water. Foosha was surrounded by relatively clear water, so she could count the crabs and jellyfish even from this far up. Little fish were drawing circles through the water. However, the swarm dispersed quickly, when loud voices cut through the air again. Footsteps echoed over the ship. There was definitely Luffy’s voice in the mix, so she decided to go looking for him and the others. But he found her first. Or more like his body found hers, because when she rounded a corner, he basically barreled her down. The pirates were on his heels. From what she could gather, nothing had changed. Luffy was still angry, the crew was having fun. They could easily capture him but didn’t seem to feel like it. Much to her dismay, Luffy was holding a knife. 

Where in the world had he found that? Well, she supposed this was a pirate ship, so the better question was: why did Shanks let him have it? 

The boy climbed up the ladder leading up to the crow’s nest, surely thinking he was out of reach. One he found a safe footing on the boom, he turned around to the crowd, waving the knife dangerously. 

“I’m a real pirate, I’ll show you!” he proclaimed, “I’m not afraid of anything!” 

The pirates cheered him on. Yura ran up to them, quickly ducking through the gaps until she found a face she was actually willing to approach. She tugged at Yasopp’s pant leg until he noticed her. 

“You have to stop him!” she tried and he grinned down at her. 

“As if he’d actually do anything,” he said and picked her up into his arms, so she could see better, “He’ll be back down in no time.” 

“You know him, he does stupid things!” she pleaded, but again that only drew chuckles from some of the men standing close. With a frustrated huff, she shifted in Yasopp’s arms until she could see Shanks in front of his crew. He was egging the boy on like the rest of them. She tried to push her unease away. 

“I’m not joking!” Luffy screamed, clearly frustrated with their reactions. Shanks laughed. 

“Well go on then,” he encouraged. His hat was threatening to fall off from the way he had to angle his chin to see Luffy but he pushed it back in a way that seemed to be second nature to him. 

Luffy stared back down with clenched teeth. He too seemed to see that no one was taking him seriously. And with one single motion, he jammed the knife into his own face, just under his left eye. 

The pirates went wild. 

“You idiot!” Shanks roared, as Luffy burst into tears immediately. He was already half way up to get him. Yasopp set Yura down quickly, a string of curses spilling out. He tried to hug her close to him, probably so she didn’t see the blood that was gushing out of her friend’s face. But she had already seen it. Bright red, running down his cheek and mixing with his tears. It was the same kind she had seen when she had scraped her knee, or when she had given him a nosebleed during their fight, just… a lot more. So much more. In a panic, she wrestled out of Yasopp’s grip, making her way through the equally panicking pirates. Shanks had just made it back to the floor, a wailing Luffy in his grip. 

“What were you thinking?” he demanded, but he didn’t ask in a reasonable way. Yura saw that he too was afraid. It didn’t help her manage her own terror. 

“Luffy!” she screamed and went off to get him away from these men, this ship, everything, really. By now, her own tears blurred her view. She didn’t make it to them before some of the other pirates held her back and no matter how hard she thrashed and kicked, she couldn’t get free. Through the blur she saw Shanks looking at her, wide-eyed. There was something else on his face, but Yura was too busy screaming herself to put her mind to it. 

** 

She had never really been to the doctor’s office. Mostly because Yura had always refused to be helped by anyone other than Makino. She’d never had injuries so bad that the barmaid couldn’t handle them herself. But this time, Makino had taken Luffy in her arms, as soon as she’d set eyes on him, and hurried down the street to the village doctor. This was another sign that Yura had every right to be absolutely terrified. She had followed them of course. Which is why she was sitting in the waiting room now, staring at the weird swirly painting on the opposite wall. How long was she sitting here? She didn’t know. 

The front door opened. Shanks went to lean against the wall across from her. 

“How is he?” he asked. It was a weird tone of voice, Yura had never heard it from him. 

“I don’t know,” she stated sourly, “they wouldn’t let me in.” Her eyes were still glued to the painting. 

“Makino is inside though, right?” 

She didn’t even answer that one. Shanks exhaled through his nose, smiling at her behavior. A couple minutes went by. 

“Man I feel bad about this,” he murmured eventually. 

“You should!” Yura exploded, “it’s your fault!” 

Maybe Shanks didn’t expect her outburst, maybe he did. His eyes held the same weird expression he had given her back on the ship. He opened his mouth to say something, but she had enough of his fancy words. “You’re the adult!” she continued and she could feel tears gathering in her eyes again, “Why did you let him do that?” Of course, he didn’t have an answer to that. Instead, and much to her horror, he came to sit down next to her. His hat covered his eyes as he looked down. “Yasopp told me you warned him. Said the kid would do it. I’m glad he has someone looking out for him. I’m sorry I couldn’t.” At this moment, the door to the doctor’s office smashed open, squeaking in its hinges. Out came Luffy, grinning like he won the lottery, a big band aid covering most of the left side of his face. 

“Didn’t hurt at all!” he declared, still tears in his eyes. The blood on his shirt had turned brown by now. 

“Hey kid!” Shanks said and stood up. His demeanor had changed in a matter of seconds. He was back in his cheery mode. He was faking it well. But Luffy’s smile grew as well when he saw him. 

“Shanks! I told you I’d do it! Look, I even got stitches! It’s gonna be a cool scar!” he began pulling at his band aid, but Makino behind him swatted his hands away. 

“Let’s go home, Luffy,” she suggested, clearly tired herself. It was obvious the boy would be staying at the flat for the night. Her eyes met with Shanks’ across the room and she smiled.  
It was unbelievable that his puppy dog eyes actually worked. Yura felt herself getting angry again. 

“See you tomorrow, Shanks!” Luffy exclaimed, which is when Yura remembered something. 

“Won’t you leave tomorrow morning?” she asked, and Shanks send her a guilty smile. Luffy seemed to remember too. 

“Yeah,” the Captain said and pointed a finger in the face of the little boy. “And while we’re away, you focus on getting better. And don’t pull any more stunts like that, alright?” 

Luffy saluted with a serious expression.  
“Aye, Captain.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love Shanks and his crew alright? Also I jut realized he was 27 when he was in Foosha. I'm not that much younger. I know aging works differently in One Piece but no way in hell did he have any clue what he was doing at that point!
> 
> Do you guys think I'm doing him justice?


	9. Consequences

It took Luffy exactly three and a half days to go restless. Which was a pretty solid time for him, if Yura was being honest. Obviously, he spent his time imagining the great adventures the Red Hair Pirates were probably encountering. They used the trenches in the meadow to recreate epic battles against an imaginary Marine force. 

“You know they’re not going to leave the East Blue, right?” Yura pointed out when Luffy announced the sudden arrival of a Sea King as big as ten wind-mills stuck on top of each other. Luffy interrupted the game to frown at her. 

“There are Sea Kings in East Blue too,” he defended. 

“Not that big,” Yura insisted. She didn’t actually know. It was not like she had seen much of the world but the same could be said about Luffy. They were both operating on lore and stories. And those generally said that the East Blue was the most boring of the Blues. 

“I bet the Lord of the Coast is even bigger than ten wind-mills!” 

Yura scoffed. He had heard that story one too many times as well. “You know they only made up that one so you don’t swim out too far and drown, right?” Luffy was positively scandalized. 

“That’s not true! He’s real! I once saw his tail in the waves!” 

“Oh really, when?” 

“A couple years ago?” 

“So you were a baby.” 

“I meant month.” 

“Sure,” she teased. “Nothing ever happens here. Even the Lord of the Coast would be bored to death by now.” She sat down in the grass, suddenly worn-out by their game. This is all they ever did. Imagining. Not knowing what’s true and what’s just made up for children. She would find out eventually. She couldn’t wait till they finally set sail. As soon as they were old enough – and strong enough – for Luffy to start his pirate journey. 

He sat down next to her, falling backward until he as sprawled out in the grass. “You’re right. We will leave as soon as possible.” She smiled at the shared thought process. The grass was vibrant green, and she plucked a few bits from the ground absentmindedly. The air around them was quiet, except for a few birds and the thousand frogs that were fully grown by now. She wished she could grow as fast. 

“I wish Shanks would come back already,” Luffy complained, staring into the sky, “he said they would only take a couple days.” 

“It’s only been three, Lu,” she reminded him. But there was uneasiness in her voice. Luffy didn’t seem to notice. 

“I bet they are fighting right now, while we can only lie around. Man, his stories are going to be great.” She looked at him from the corner of her eye, still pretending to fumble with the grass between her fingers. 

“Maybe they aren’t coming back,” she mumbled under her breath. Yura hadn’t been able to shake this thought. They had promised, of course, that they would come back. But plans changed and she didn’t put it past the pirates to make promises just to spare their feelings. She didn’t want to upset Luffy, knowing this would lead to an argument, but she also felt like it was her duty as first mate to prepare him for what might be coming. 

But he didn’t get angry, he just grinned. The band aid on his cheek crinkled a bit from the effort and he winced slightly. “They said they’ll come back. I believe them.” 

“Of course you do.” She didn’t think it was worth arguing now, so she changed the topic to something equally unpleasant. “Does your cheek still hurt?” 

“It never did.” She huffed in response and Luffy must have felt her burning stare, because his resolve melted a moment later, “it still stings sometimes, when I talk a lot.” 

She laughed, “Doesn’t seem to make you shut up, though.” Luffy had to laugh again too, flinching once more. 

“Don’t make me laugh,” he complained. 

“Was it worth it?” she teased. There was a serious question behind it, of course, and he honestly seemed to contemplate it. Yura was still mad at Shanks for not doing anything, and admittedly, for causing this whole mess as well. He did seem to feel bad about it, she thought, but that didn’t make Luffy’s scar vanish – not ever, if you believed the doctor. She thought about it every time she looked at Luffy’s face. 

“I made Makino sad,” he noted, “that’s bad. But I think it worked. Did you see Shanks’ face?” 

“Yeah, he really freaked out. If that was you plan then yeah, it worked pretty well.” 

He turned his head to look at her. “Don’t be silly, I didn’t want him to freak out. I said I’d do it, so I had to.” 

“You had to,” Yura repeated sarcastically, but Luffy’s confusing moral code was nothing new to her. He was stupidly honest and promises meant more to him than they probably should. Hence, his unwavering belief in the return of the Red Hair Pirates. She sighed. “You know, not only Makino and Shanks freaked out,” she started but didn’t quite know how to continue. Luffy seemed to catch on. 

“I’m sorry I made you worry,” he said. And of course, he was honest about that too. 

“I can’t look out for you, if the biggest danger to you is yourself, dumbass,” she complained. He sat up. 

“Oooh, you said a bad word!” he laughed and pointed at her as if calling her out. 

“Not my fault you are a dumbass, dumbass!” she quipped back. 

“That’s it, I’m telling Makino!” Luffy jumped up in glee and ran off, in the direction of the bar, giggling the whole time. His wound seemed to be forgotten. 

“No you won’t!” she screeched, and ran after him to tackle him down. 

~ ~ ~ ~ 

_Somewhere on the East Blue_

It was reassuring to hear the sound of waves crashing against the ship again. Hearing the ocean wasn’t the same if you stood on land, not being part of the sea yourself. Shanks stood at the ship’s rail, watching the horizon wistfully. East Blue was different to the Grand Line and he was sure he would never be able to fall in love with this the way he was with the pirate-infested waters spanning the world. But after Captain Roger’s death there was a bitter feeling every time he returned to it. The same feeling tying him to the East Blue now, where he watched his Captain die so many years ago. Has it already been that long? 

“Oh no, that’s your brooding face,” a voice ripped him out of his thoughts. He recognized it immediately as Yasopp and turned around to find he’s right. 

“I don’t have a brooding face,” Shanks corrected, knowing full well that he probably did. Yasopp leaned against the rail next to him, looking down at the water. 

“You’ve been wearing it since we left Foosha,” he eventually noted, quietly. 

“Oh no, that’s your deep conversation voice,” Shanks teased back and Yasopp grinned a bit in acknowlement. But he continued instead of indulging in the argument. 

“In fact, you’ve been wearing it ever since the boy hurt himself.” 

“I was wrong. It’s your lecture voice.” 

“Shanks.” 

“See, I’m right,” he laughed. Yasopp had even addressed him by name, not as ‘Captain’ like he did most times. 

“Can you take this seriously, just for a second?” 

“Luffy stabs himself in the face and you think I’m not taking this seriously?” 

“I think it’s easier to make fun of it instead of facing the consequences.” 

“I’m not an idiot.” He caught Yasopp’s glance. “I’m not _that big_ of an idiot,” he corrected with a groan. 

“No you aren’t. We wouldn’t follow you if you were.” 

“I’m honestly shocked it took you so long to rip me a new one for what happened. Are you getting soft on me?” 

Yasopp was Shanks’ voice of reason. Well, Ben was his voice of reason most of the time, but Ben wasn’t emotional. Personal drama was nothing he wanted to be caught up in, which made him an excellent right hand man. And it was Yasopp’s nature to fill in the gap. The thought that more than one personified conscience was necessary for Shanks to keep his crew and himself alive should have been more concerning than it was.  
He looked over to the other man when no immediate answer came. 

“This isn’t only on you,” Yasopp said eventually, “None of us thought he’d do it.” 

“But he did.” 

“Yeah. Why, though?” 

“Because he’s serious.” 

“Shanks.” 

“No, listen,” Shanks pushed himself away from the edge of the ship, rounding on Yasopp with an intense glint in his eye. He’d been thinking about this, but saying it out loud was… difficult. “The way he’s talking and now this, just to prove himself! Even afterwards he was so damn sure about it. I know I didn’t take him seriously either but I honestly think he’s got it in him. Just give him a couple years!” His voice had gotten almost feverish, and he tried to take it back a notch when he noticed, but ultimately failed. 

“Shanks, I don’t think-“ 

“No, I mean it! Yasopp, I swear, he’s sounding just like-“ Shanks stopped mid-sentence, hung up on the image of a mustached man before his inner eye. 

“Just like whom?” 

He realized then, suddenly, that Yasopp wouldn’t understand. He couldn’t, because he had never witnessed how Captain Roger was when he made up his mind. Had been, he corrected himself mentally. Shanks sighed. “Doesn’t matter. I just think he’s gonna go through with it, that’s all.” 

“So you’re going to encourage him even further.” It wasn’t a question. It wasn’t agreement either. 

“You make it sound like a bad thing.” 

“He is five years old, Shanks. Five. Maybe we shouldn’t encourage a career that’s probably going to get him killed?” 

“I don’t think I have any say in that. He already decided.” 

“Oh, who are you kidding?” Yasopp threw his hands up in the air, spinning around in exasperation. “He hurt himself! You didn’t tell him to, but you must realize that he wanted you specifically to believe him. What will he do now that you do?” Shanks didn’t have an answer, and Yasopp didn’t expect one either. “He idolizes you!” 

“I know.” 

“Maybe take some responsibility then!” 

“For what?” Shanks exploded, “for him pursuing a dream that we are already living? What are you lecturing me about? You chose this too; don’t pretend you don’t get it!” 

“Yes I did choose this! And I left my fucking wife and kid behind for it, so I know damn well what I’m talking about!” That, admittedly, made Shanks feel a massive pang of guilt. Yasopp rolled right over it. “Do you think he’s in any mindset to realize what he will have to leave behind? It’s all fun, fame and gold for him and that’s your fault too! He has a life there, a family! Just because you have nothing to lose out there doesn’t mean no one else has!” 

It took his crewmate only a millisecond to realize what he said. There was conflict on his face. Shanks realized it was because Yasopp knew that he was right, but hadn’t wanted to say it out loud like that. 

“I’m sorry, Captain, I’m-“ 

“No, don’t. You’re right,” Shanks huffed. He deserved it. It was easy to get caught up in this. This was his life, always had been, and he never regretted it. It was hard to imagine that other people didn’t share this sentiment. He knew Yasopp would never leave, he had made his call a long time ago. But the guilt was still there. “Your son is about Luffy’s age too, right?” he realized. Shit, that was making it worse. 

Yasopp nodded. “Makes me wonder what kind of trouble my own boy is getting into.” He grinned and there was both pride and pain in it. 

“Knowing you, he probably gets his fair share. But I’m sure he’s fine. He’s your son after all.” Yasopp looked like he wasn’t sure the latter was a good thing. 

“Do you think he wants to be a pirate too?” 

“Wouldn’t surprise me, honestly.” Shanks paused to put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. “He is going to be fine,” he insisted again, searching his friend’s eyes. Yasopp just smiled, nodding slightly, but not looking fully convinced. 

“You said the way Luffy talks reminds you of someone,” Yasopp said quietly, “I think he sounds like you.” 

~ ~ ~ ~ 

_Five days later, Foosha Village_

“They’re back! They’re back they’re back they’re back they’re back!” Luffy’s words blurred together to an almost indistinguishable mess as he ran through the village. He had just discovered the ship, secured tightly to the port, Jolly Roger waving proudly in the wind. Yura had been with him, of course, and was still trying to keep up with him once he immediately tore off in the direction of Party’s Bar. There was no question about whether or not the pirates would be there. 

The double door flung open, indeed revealing Lou, Ben, Yasopp and all the other members of the crew, drinking merrily. 

“You’re back!” Luffy boomed, catching the attention of every man in sight. No-one looked surprised at the loud welcome. 

“Hey there, Luffy!” Yasopp greeted, supporting his chin on his hand to glance down at the boy. “How have you’ve been? Scar’s looking good.” 

Of course, his words were completely ignored. Luffy just began to shower the pirate with a million questions that had collected over the last week. Where had they been? Did the Marine find them? Did they fight any monsters? What about a giant Sea King, say, ten wind-mills high? 

Yura decided to intervene when Luffy started to get blue around the face, due to a lack of oxygen. She yanked him back by his shirt. 

“Breathe, idiot,” she said, and looked up to Yasopp, “I’m sorry, but he kept it in for so long, I think he’s just exploding like an overfilled balloon now.” 

The pirate patted her head fondly. “Not a problem, princess. We know how he is.” 

This was the exact moment Luffy noticed a big wooden box on the bar counter, right next to Lou’s massive meaty shoulder. “Treasure!!” he screamed in absolute glee and ran up to it with grabby hands. Lou swatted them away easily. 

“No chance, Luffy, that’s not for children.” 

“What’s in it?” 

Lou leaned down to him conspiratorially. “The cut-out hearts of our enemies,” he whispered and Luffy’s eyes became huge. 

“Cool,” he breathed, fully believing it. 

“Lou, God damn it, don’t give the children nightmares!” That was Yasopp again, sounding like a protective father, although none of the children in question seemed to be particularly weirded-out by Lou’s story. Lou noticed and laughed. 

“Eh, they can take it,” he shrugged, turning back to his full plate to shovel more food in his mouth. 

Of course, Luffy launched right back into his questions, still stuck to Yasopp’s side, who let them rain on him with seemingly infinite patience. Yura figured this would take a while and thus didn’t feel bad leaving him behind for a bit. She noticed Makino wasn’t in the room and figured she would be upstairs, juggling housework since everyone at the bar was served. Yura felt bad for leaving her alone with all this and wanted to help. She had to wash herself anyway, rolling around in the mud all day, so she made her way up to the flat, killing two birds with one stone. No-one noticed her leaving. 

What she certainly didn’t expect was to find Shanks in her flat. But there he was. Looking guilty and awkward. Just standing in the room. His shirt was open, more than usual. Yura looked down at the straw hat lying on the ground, abandoned. Makino was there of course, just behind him. Yura could see her flushed face, peeking out from over his shoulder. Yura felt stupid for feeling guilty a moment ago. Makino didn’t seem to need any help, instead he let _him_ in their flat. Their flat. Makino’s and hers. Luffy occasionally. No one else. Ever. He started saying something, but Yura turned on her heel immediately. She slammed the door on her way out, stomping down the steps she had just climbed up. Her vision was red with anger. She barely noticed the muffled voices through the door but was aware that the door opened behind her. They were following her, great. Makino called out her name. Yura was already through the door of the bar. 

“Hey, kid, come on!” that was Shanks, having the nerve to talk to her. But he was also an adult and caught up with her easily. His clothes were sorted out now. The hat was back on his head. 

“What?” Yura turned around to him with crossed arms, ready for a fight now that she realized she couldn’t flee the scene. Shanks looked like a dog who caught the car he was chasing – he didn’t know what to do now. The same as always, if you asked her. She scoffed. “What were you doing up there?” she asked with venom. Shanks’ face flushed a bit at that. 

“What I-? Uhm, well, I-“ He stumbled over the effort of explaining it to her, not knowing, obviously, that Yura knew what kissing was. She just didn’t know Makino did it. With him of all people. Yura felt a bit green around the nose. 

“You aren’t allowed up there,” she elaborated to cut the topic. By now, they had the attention of the entire crew, a fact Shanks was seemingly aware of. A couple men chuckled at his expense. 

“It’s okay,” Makino chimed in, “I allowed it.” As if Yura didn’t know. As if this wasn't the problem. 

“You said it’s only for family. He-“ and here she pointed to Shanks, “isn’t family!” 

She seemed at a loss for words. “Yes, but there are exceptions. Sometimes. Like when Luffy stays over.” 

Yura looked at her in utter disgust. “Luffy _is_ family,” she said. This should be obvious and Yura found this was the first time she was truly angry at Makino too. But the majority of her anger was still directed at Shanks, the traitor, the intruder. He had weaseled his way into Luffy’s brain and now even in Makino's. Luffy still wore the consequences on his cheek. Yura didn’t want to find out what else the pirate would mess up. This was what pirates did after all, right? They took things that didn’t belong to them. Both Makino and Shanks looked at her softly then, probably because of her previous words. This was the exact opposite of what she wanted to see on their faces. She already inhaled to give them another piece of her mind, when she noticed Shanks looking around the room. 

“Speaking of,” he started, eager for a distraction “why didn’t the anchor assault me yet? Isn’t he-“ From the way his eyes bulged, Yura assumed he had found him. It was confirmed when he rushed past her, with almost strangled cries of “What are you doing?” and “No, don’t!” 

While everyone had been busy with the ongoing drama, Luffy had apparently decided to take a look into the treasure box. It was the perfect opportunity after all, Yura didn’t blame him. But instead of the human hearts Lou had advertised, Luffy now cradled a big purple fruit in his hands. One he had taken a huge bite out of and now that Shanks had caught him, he tried to shove as much of it between his teeth as possible, before the man reached him. The crew stumbled back when Shanks yanked Luffy up by the shirt, lifting him into the air and close to his face. He had never been this violent before, so Yura immediately felt like something went terribly wrong. “Spit it out!” he roared, jerking the boy in a way that he indeed coughed out half of what was in his mouth. But Shanks wasn’t satisfied, “All of it! Spit it out! Do you have any idea what this is?” 

Her first thought was that it was expensive and Shanks was mad that Luffy had eaten his grand prize. But her contempt vanished at the second thought. Shanks didn’t just look angry. He looked scared. Maybe it was poisonous. Yura edged closer to the counter, where a chunk of the fruit had been dropped. The purple didn’t look healthy. There were swirls all over the surface. It was strange, but pretty. It looked definitely poisonous. Oh god, was Luffy dying? By now, Shanks had grabbed Luffy by his legs, trying to get the fruit out of his system. He was still screaming which abruptly stopped when Luffy’s legs elongated like human legs were certainly not supposed to and the boy face-planted into the floor. 

There was a pause before everyone started screaming.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oof.


	10. For a New Era

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it comes, the moment we've been waiting for <3

_Devil Fruit [n., ˈdevəl fro͞ot ]  
a mystical fruit that, when consumed, grants the eater a special ability. This ability goes beyond normal human capacities. The only noted side-effect of eating a Devil Fruit to date is an inability to move in water. While research on the source of power is thin, it is established knowledge that only one fruit can contain a certain ability at a time. The consumption of more than one Devil Fruit is lethal. Common nomenclature divides the granted abilities in three categories-_

Yura looked up from the heavy book with tired eyes. Ever since Luffy had eaten the purple fruit, her life felt like things went down a path they weren’t supposed to. After it became clear that it was too late for Luffy to try to get the fruit out of his system and that he, in fact, would not be able to reverse its effect, Yura realized she had to learn as much as possible about the thing. This proved itself to be more difficult than expected. You would guess that a ton of information was gathered about such an outlandish fruit, but there was barely anything she could find on it. Shanks and his crew had been helpful to an extent. Having sailed on the Grand Line they had seen plenty of Devil Fruit users with all kinds of powers. The first thing Shanks predicted was for Luffy to not be able to swim – a great misfortune for his future pirate-career. Obviously, Luffy didn’t believe him and jumped right into the sea, first chance he got. 

It would have been interesting, if it hadn’t been so frightening. Not being able to swim, as Shanks had described it, didn’t quite fit. As soon as Luffy came in contact with a considerable amount of water, he sank like a stone, unable to move a limp and basically losing any energy stored in his body. This didn’t work with any amount of water – emptying a bucket over his head made him yawn at best (or maybe this was just his general tiredness, Yura wasn’t entirely sure).  
Shanks had also said that the fruit Luffy ate was the Gomu Gomu no Mi, which meant that her friend was now a rubber boy. So far, this had been the source of both immense fun at his expense, and extreme inconvenience for everyone. You could pull and push at him, tie knots in his limbs or wrap his body around a tree. He could also catapult himself right into dirt or, on most occasions, accidentally punch himself in the face. All in all, they hadn’t found any remarkable advantages so far. At some point, Makino had forbid Luffy to use his powers, at least indoors, but his control over what he was doing wasn’t nearly good enough to obey the rule, even if he wanted to.  
This fact was the reason why, roughly a week later, Luffy sat at the bar counter sulking. Yura set a glass of juice before him with a sympathetic grimace. Even the Red Hair Pirates and their stories couldn’t quite cheer him up today. They went out to sea more often now. God knew what they were doing, but they always told the weirdest tales afterward. Yura was convinced that most of it was a lie. The world couldn’t be that insane out there. 

“You will get the hang of it eventually,” Yura encouraged her friend, “it will take some time, is all.” He just huffed in response, his head resting on his folded arms. He had spent the better part of the day practicing, or rather, figuring out what he could do and trying to do it at will. It hadn’t been very successful. 

“I don’t have that much time,” Luffy said eventually, “I need to get strong if I wanna be a pirate.” 

Shanks was sitting next to him, mostly busy throwing winks at Makino instead of eating the food in front of him. He probably thought he was being sneaky, that Yura didn’t notice, but the truth was that she just had become really good at ignoring it. Since her outburst, Makino and him tried to act as if nothing happened and that they weren’t… involved at all. Sadly, they were really bad at pretending. At Luffy’s words, he turned to the boy. 

“Eh, you have all the time in the world, kid. Your life hasn’t even really started yet.” 

Luffy looked up to him, still grumpy but there was a hopeful glance in his eyes. “Really?” he asked, “when did you become a pirate?” 

Shanks thought for a minute, took a bite and took his time to chew and swallow before answering. “I must have been… wait, I joined my first crew when I was... like thirteen maybe?”  
Shit, Yura thought, that was really young. Luffy must have thought the same thing. 

“Thirteen?? So I only have like seven years??” He buried his head in his arms with a groan. Shanks held up is hands, realizing what he said. 

“Maybe I was older, I don’t know. Anyway, I’m not a good example here.” He looked around the bar, lightening up when he found what he was looking for. “Lou was already in his twenties when he joined, right Lou?” 

The man in question turned around to his captain. “That’s right. I mean, I did some mercenary work before that, and technically I sailed under a Jolly Roger before that – actually, I started breaking the law when I was like ten but –“ he stopped, catching the glance of the others, including a heart-broken Luffy and a very stern-looking Makino. “Err, I mean that doesn’t count. So twenties sounds about right, Captain.” He grinned apologetically. 

Next to him, Ben snorted. “This whole crew consists of scoundrels and general good-for-nothings. Not exactly role-models for children I’d say.” The man sitting across from him - Yura didn’t know his name - kicked him under the table. “Oi, speak for yourself, Beckman, I’m an honest gentleman!” Everyone snickered. Ben kicked him back with a grin. 

“Yeah, I’m sure that lady on Kyuka would like to give her two cents about that,” he quipped, earning even more laughter from the others, “what was her name?” 

Yasopp put his hand dramatically over his heart, as if suddenly moved with undying love. “Gabriella~” he sighed, leaning heavily on the man in question. The guy shoved him off, with a good-natured but still annoyed “Fuck off.” 

The shananigans were cut short apruptly by the sound of the doors being thrown open with enough force to hit the wall. A group of people cast a shadow inside, but the man who walked in first drew all the attention. He was lean, wearing a long brown coat over his plain and dirty shirt and pants. He was sporting a slight beard and top-bun and, unnervingly, a rather big sword was tied to his hip. He made a show of not hiding it. 

“Well, well, well,” he began, sauntering into the now quiet bar. “what is this? Sounds like you’re having fun. Mind if we join?” He grinned and it reminded Yura of a slimy toad. Makino pulled her behind her protectively. It was clear the man and his goons weren’t friendly. She still tried to be a professional. 

“What can I do for you?” Makino asked politely, “I can offer you and your men a beer?” 

He crossed the room, leaning against the counter next to Shanks. “Sake, please,” the man said, and even this short sentence sounded arrogant. “Ten barrels.” 

“I’m sorry, Sir. We’re out of sake,” Makino stated, honestly apologetic. 

“What do you mean you’re out of sake? What kind of bar is this?” The man grew agitated immediately. Yura made herself smaller behind Makino, but peaked around her apron. Luffy was too far away to get him, but it was reassuring that Shanks sat right between the boy and the evil man. To her surprise, it was actually Shanks who answered. 

“I’m sorry, I guess my crew and I drank all of it. I still have one bottle left, though,” he held up the last bottle in demonstration. “You can have it, no problem.” 

This was the first time the man looked at Shanks. He seized him up and down, looking at him now that he had basically introduced himself as the captain. 

“Pirate, eh?” the man said with disgust, “Do you know who I am?” 

Shanks shrugged with a grin. It was surprisingly polite. “Nope, can’t say I do, sorry.” 

The man must have expected this, but he still scoffed in offense. Somehow he made it seem like anyone who didn’t know him was a stupid idiot. 

“Let me educate you, pirate. I’m Higuma, leader of these wonderful gentlemen over there.” He waved in the direction of his men, who had entered the bar behind him and were now crowding the door. His other hand fished around in his coat until he eventually pulled out a roll of paper. “We’re bandits.” He unrolled the paper, revealing it to be his wanted-poster. It read eight million Beli. Yura swallowed. That was a lot more than people in East Blue usually had. Shanks let out a low whistle. 

“Not bad. Eight million, eh?” He raised the bottle of sake again, offering it to the bandit, “let’s drink to that.” 

They stared at each other for a moment, before Higuma’s mouth stretched into a grin yet again and he took the bottle. Yura exhaled in relief, but then he smashed it against the counter, sending shards and sake everywhere. “You have the nerve to offer me one bottle? Should I share it with my men? Are you making fun of me? Listen, you water rat, I killed 56 men and I sure as hell killed some of them over less. Who do you think you are?” 

In front of her, Makino was covering her mouth in shock. Yura noticed that the pirates didn’t jump to defend their captain. They were waiting. Shanks’ eyes were covered by his hat when he looked down. “Oh geez,” he sighed and went to pick up the shards from the floor. Next to him, Luffy gaped at him but didn’t dare to say a word. Higuma looked down on him. He seemed surprised – other people probably cowered in fear or were looking for a fight at such an insult, but Shanks was doing neither. Higuma laughed. He just laughed at Shanks! Yura tightened her fists in anger on his behalf. 

“That’s right, pirate,” he snarled, “pick up the mess. You people are always such cowards. Running out to the sea when things are getting rough.” 

Shanks didn’t reply, and Higuma only tolerated this for a couple more seconds, before he drew his sword and swept it over the table in a frustrated bow. It went a bit to close over Shanks’ head for Yura’s liking, breaking his plate and effectively dumping a good part of gravy and potatoes over Shanks. He just sat there, like a wet dog. 

“Weaklings like you make me sick, “ Higuma declared, putting his sword away and turning around. “I’m going to find a decent place in the next village. You’re lucky I don’t wanna waste any more time with scum like you. Killing you isn’t worth it.” 

His men laughed as he left the bar, following his lead. The closing door was the only noise left behind. 

Shanks, still on the floor, was shaking. Makino immediately ran around the counter with a towel to clean him up a bit. Yura jumped on the counter to better see what was happening. 

But it turned out Shanks didn’t shake with anger, or fear. He burst out laughing a second later. His crew went along immediately. Honestly, Yura was just glad no one was hurt, so hearing everyone laugh made her feel a lot better too. 

“He called you a water rat,” yelped Yasopp, between labored breath, trying to calm down, but spiraling into another fit of laughter quickly. 

“Who even carries his own wanted poster around?” said another pirate. Shanks wiped a stray tear from his eyes. 

“What is there to laugh about?!” Luffy stood on his bar stool, scowling down at Shanks with a lot of rage in his tiny body, “He insulted you, laughed at you! Why didn’t you defend yourself?!” 

Shanks looked up at him, adjusting the straw hat in the process. He smiled at the boy. “It’s just a bit of spilled sake, what is there to be angry about?” he said. Directed at Makino, who was still fussing about him, he added “I’m sorry I made a mess, though.” 

Makino swatted the towel against his chest with a playful scowl on her own. “Shut up,” she huffed. He took the towel from her, wanting to help. Luffy glared at them, still angry, then jumped from the bar stool and ran out. Shanks called after him, but he didn’t listen. Yura took one last glance at the pirate, then ran to follow her friend. 

~ ~ ~ ~ 

Luffy spent the next couple of hours raging in the meadow, throwing stones at trees, screaming murder into the sky. Seeing his hero, his role-model, ridiculed by some slimy mountain bandit wounded him deeply and he couldn’t even come close to understanding why Shanks hadn’t lashed out in revenge. Yura listen to him complain about it the whole time.  
There was not much she could say to calm him down – she didn’t quite get it either. Even his crew did nothing. She had seen Shanks’ wanted poster. Eight million wasn’t that much in comparison, same with Ben and the others. For all the time they spend here, Yura had yet to find out what exactly justified their bounties. To her it looked like they couldn’t hurt a fly. Mulling this over, Yura walked next to Luffy. They were crossing the village back to the bar. Yura didn’t want Luffy to encounter Shanks, but they were both practically starving. Luckily, food had always ranked above pride with the boy. However, when they left the main street onto the big plaza in front of the town hall, they stopped in their tracks. Higuma and his bandits stood at one of the market stalls, eyeing the goods. They weren’t really interested in them, instead Yura heard that they were still as hung up on the previous events as the two children. 

“Can you believe this pirate trash?” they overheard one of the bandits say, “you threw all that shit on him and he was too scared to even say a word!” Higuma snickered at the thought. 

“Figures. I know people like him. They act tough but that’s it. He almost shit his pants.” 

“Take that back!” Luffy stormed towards the group immediately, before Yura even had a chance to react. Fear gripped her immediately. Higuma turned to them, wondering who dared to speak to him like that. When he saw the children, the grin was back in place. 

“Oh look, the little dwarfs from earlier. What did you just say?” 

“I said take it back! Shanks isn’t a coward and he could take you on any time!” 

Higuma laughed, “Weren’t you there when I emptied the sake on him? I can imagine all the stories he told you about how strong he is. Believe me, he’s just a coward with a big mouth.” 

Luffy had never been a boy of clever words and even less so of clever actions. Still, Yura could honestly say she did not expect the level of stupidity it took for him to charge at the leader of a group of bandits head first. And yet. 

Higuma didn’t even bat an eye before punching him in the face. Luffy stumbled to the ground, disoriented. Yura called his name, crouching down at his side to make sure he was okay. By now, some people had gathered, but no one dared to intervene. And they still didn’t when Luffy tried again and got kicked away just as quickly. And again a third time. Yura got up, and with quivering legs, she stood between Higuma and her friend. She could hear her heartbeat in her ears. What was she even doing? By now, the bandit was positively pissed at Luffy. 

“Get out of the way, girl,” he demanded and she just shook her head. Her entire body felt like ice, so she couldn’t bring herself to do much more. Higuma didn’t wait for her to comply, but instead, shoved her to the side roughly. She scraped her knees on the floor, but got back on her feet to intervene again. But she had stumbled right into the grip of another bandit. 

“Keep her out of my hair,” Higuma told his man, advancing on Luffy, “while I teach this boy a lesson.” 

He grabbed him by his shirt, and quickly, without warning, punched the kid right in the face. Yura cried out. The audience gasped. No matter how much she struggled, the man behind her held onto her, gripping a good chunk of her hair to drag her into place. It hurt and she could feel tears gathering in her eyes. Higuma landed another punch. And then another. “Please stop!” she shouted, but was ignored. Luffy couldn’t do much more than take it, continuously refusing to apologize or take back his words. Yura gathered her strength then, and kicked out behind her. She must’ve hit something vulnerable, because the bandit behind her yelped and slapped her across the face, almost on instinct. She fell back into the dirt, shuffling away immediately. 

“What is this?” Higuma said behind her, and kicked Luffy in the stomach. “He’s not even bleeding!” He was getting frustrated, increasing the speed of his attacks. Yura looked around but she realized pretty quickly that no one here could help her. This man would kill Luffy and she was too weak to stop him. The man behind her made a grab at her, and she scrambled out of his reach, got up and then ran. There was laughter behind her. The bandits had noticed her retreat but didn’t even bother to follow her. A little girl running off wasn’t worth it. It took her only a couple of minutes to get to the bar. She knew the way by heart and fueled by adrenaline she was even quicker than usual. Luckily, Shanks and his crew were still there, turning around when she burst through the door. At their sight, Yura almost broke down crying with relief. 

“They have Luffy,” she exclaimed, running up to Shanks, pulling at his shirt to try to get him to stand up. He looked at her in confusion, so she elaborated. “The bandits! They were at the town hall, and we heard them and then Luffy- I- I tried to stop him but I couldn’t and then they held me down a-and-“ The more she talked, the more her words dissolved into sobs. 

Makino came running immediately when she saw her. 

“Are you bleeding?” she gasped, and indeed it seemed like her lip had split when she got hit earlier. She didn’t care. She was still pulling at Shanks’ shirt. 

“He’s gonna kill him,” she wailed. Finally, Shanks stood up, laying a calming hand on her head. Yura cried even more. 

“Let’s go,” he said to his men. 

~ ~ ~ ~ 

The people were still watching and now, Yura had more time resenting them for it. Makino had gathered her into her arms, knowing she would refuse to stay back. 

Higuma seemed to have given up his strategy of punching Luffy after concluding that the boy had eaten a Devil Fruit. Luffy was covered in dirt, but didn’t seem to be severely hurt. To her horror, the bandit was drawing his sword when they arrived. “Let’s see if this will do more damage,” he drawled. 

“I suggest you don’t,” Shanks interrupted calmly. His crew was gathered behind him, everyone else seemed to take a step back subconsciously. Makino made sure she and Yura were out of harm’s way as well. Higuma looked up from where he had Luffy pinned to the ground under his boot. He didn’t even have to say anything, as the bandit closest to Shanks put a gun up to his head immediately, switching the safety off with a click. Yura’s hand tightened in Makino’s shirt as Shanks just stared down the barrel. 

“You know,” he started with a smile, “you should be careful with that. Someone might get hurt.” 

And just like that, the bandit’s head was blasted off, blood and brain splattering over the cobble stone. Yura hadn’t even noticed Lou reacting before he had suddenly stood next to the man. His own gun was still slightly smoking. He hadn’t stopped chewing his meat. 

Now, this was the first dead body Yura ever saw. The first death happening in front of her. She couldn’t draw her eyes from the blood, shivers rolling down her back. Lou – the same Lou who had sat at the bar, telling stories, laughing with her, had just blown a man’s lights out like it was nothing. For pointing a gun at his captain. Makino tried to shield Yura’s eyes, shocked herself, but it didn’t quite work. 

The bandits shrieked. “They just killed him without warning!” One of them cried out, “they are playing dirty!” 

Ben chuckled. “Cut the crap, it’s not like we’re saints.” He wasn’t bothered by all this at all. 

“We’re pirates, remember?” Shanks agreed, still smiling. 

Higuma looked down at his dead man, then back up at the crew. “Doesn’t matter what you are, we’ll get rid of you!” The implicit command was followed immediately, as the remaining bandits charged at the group immediately. It was Ben who reacted first. 

“I got this,” he mumbled past his cigarette and stepped forward. He blew out some smoke, taking the it from between his lips. The first man who reached him swung his sword at him, but Ben didn’t even flinch- Instead, he sidestepped it neatly and pushed the gleaming tip of the cigarette right into the man’s eye. The bandit howled with pain, throwing himself to the ground and clawing at his face. The other bandits seemed to think that a joined approach would increase their chances, so they attacked him in a screaming bundle. He took the rifle from his belt, but instead of aiming, he gripped it like a baseball bat and wasted no time bashing in the skulls of his enemies. It felt like seconds until seven bodies were gathered around his feet in a bloody, twitching mess. Ben lit another cigarette. 

It was horrible to look at. And at the same time it was impossible to look away. Yura gaped at the Red Hair Pirates’ first mate. To her own surprise, it wasn’t disgust or fear she felt. For the first time ever, she could almost understand the admiration Luffy had for Shanks. 

Higuma took a few steps back, releasing Luffy in the process. Shanks stepped over the bodies casually, not even bothering to look at them. “To bring up you point from earlier,” he started, his black cloak billowing slightly behind him, “you can pour sake over me, throw food at me, I don’t care. That’s all fun and games.” His straw hat cast a hard shadow over his face as he stared the leader of the bandits down. “But if you hurt my friends, you’ll have to pay.” 

Higuma blanched and threw up his hands in surrender. It was almost funny how quickly his attitude had changed. “Hey, wait,” he cried out, “the kid attacked us first! We didn’t do anything wrong!” For some reason he seemed to think this was a good excuse. Shanks didn’t agree. 

“You’re a wanted man anyway,” he smirked, the threat clearly in his voice, “Eight million was it?” 

Higuma seemed to notice that there was no way out of this for him. His men lay dead at his feet (or close to death anyway) and he was alone. So, in a final act of cowardice, he pulled a smoke grenade out of his coat and vanished in the cloud. 

“He took Luffy!” Shanks exclaimed in a spontaneous 180 degrees turn of his cool demeanor, “Shit, I let my guard down, oh my god, guys, what do we do?!” He was positively freaking out now. Ben next to him looked at him in a mixture of awe and complete bewilderment. 

“Calm down Captain,” he eventually said, “we’ll find him, alright?” 

Most of the crowd hat dispersed at first blood, but some of the more tough - or sensationalistic – onlookers had remained. One of them, an older man with swept-back hair seemed to gather enough confidence to say something, now that the threat was gone. “I think he went down to the port,” he said hesitantly. “One of the small boats went out just now, I think.” 

“He went to sea,” Yasopp concluded, “the ironic bastard.” 

At those words, Yura struggled out of Makino’s hold, until the woman set her down cautiously. 

“He can’t swim!” Yura exclaimed, running up to Shanks and the others. Why wasn’t this over yet? It dawned on her that her friend might still very well die. She almost started crying again. Shanks nodded, a hand on his hat, turning in the general direction of the sea. 

“I’m going to get him,” he declared. 

“Be careful.” After all that happened in the last ten minutes, Yura thought Makino’s words were a bit useless. The pirates were crazy strong. Shanks was going to be just fine. Still, he smiled at the woman and she visibly melted. 

“Always am,” he assured, which was about the biggest lie he had ever told. And with that he took off. 

Yura looked up to Ben. “Don’t you wanna go with him?” she asked. His chuckle was filled with another cloud of smoke. 

“One weasel like that doesn’t require all of us,” he explained, “Captain’s got it.” He didn’t seem to be worried and this, for the first time since what felt like forever, made Yura smile too. 

Her smile, however, was completely wiped off when Shanks returned with the sobbing mess that was Luffy at his side, and a bloody stump were his left arm had been only an hour ago.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was really looking forward to this scene. Let me know how you liked my interpretation of it! Atm I don't really have time to do any illustrations alongside it but I'm going to pick the art back up eventually!


	11. Stronger

Shanks just having one arm was weird. It was weird for Yura, for Makino, for the Red Hair Crew, for literally everyone. It was definitely the weirdest for Shanks. The first couple days he was out of the sickbed (where he didn’t even want to go in the first place but Makino had dragged him there anyway) he kept dropping everything, losing balance for literally no real reason or just paused when he started to do something that would require both arms out of reflex – like eating with cutlery. But he was nonchalant about the whole thing to an almost annoying level. He laughed about it, he never got angry. But it was strange seeing him almost helpless at times. 

Of course, they all wanted to help him. Makino was a genuinely caring person anyway, much more so with Shanks, so she fussed over him relentlessly. Even Luffy tried to help. He was feeling awful about the whole thing, despite everyone telling him it wasn’t his fault he was kidnapped by bandits. Shanks didn’t accept any help, he said he needed to get used to this anyway and they were just slowing down his progress if they helped. He also didn’t want to cause any trouble. His crew seemed to know him enough to grant his wish. If you asked them, nothing had changed. Except for an ever-growing repertoire of puns about limbs. Shanks found this hilarious. 

“Don’t you miss your arm at all?” Yura finally brought herself to ask when he caught him alone at the bar. She feared this was a rude question to ask, but she really wanted to know if he was just putting on a show to make everyone else feel better. That would have been a really Shanks-y thing to do. 

He look down to her, grinned and propped himself up with his right elbow on the counter. “No, I honestly don’t.” 

“Why not?” 

He laughed quietly, just an exhale through ne nose and gestured to the empty bar stool beside him. She climbed up on in and sat down. 

“I don’t miss it because I don’t regret losing it at all. I much prefer having Luffy around than my arm.” 

“Yeah, me too. I-I mean both would be better.” 

Shanks laughed, “Yeah, well, it doesn’t work like that, I’m afraid.” 

Yura didn’t know what to say. She got his point, and she guessed this was all she wanted to know. 

“Don’t pull a face like that. I’ve had worse.” 

“What’s worse than that?” she asked, then pouted, “You’re lying again.” 

“Ah, but I’m not.” His eyes were empty for a second, his thoughts somewhere else. Her question wasn’t answered. He looked a bit sad, which was an uncomfortable sight. 

“Thank you for saving him,” she eventually said, quietly. Shanks thoughts returned to her. 

“You already said that multiple times, kid.” 

“I know. I just mean-” Yura fidgeted on her chair, which Shanks noticed with visible amusement. “I mean I’m sorry.” 

This took him off guard. “Why are you sorry?” He put the emphasis on the ‘you’, as if other people had apologized to him as well. Yura could think of multiple people who probably had. But it was her turn now. She took a breath. 

“Because I was right there. I was there when Luffy attacked them and I couldn’t stop him. I couldn’t stop the bandits either.” She felt her lip quiver. This had been in her head since the whole fiasco happened. Saying it out loud made her throat clog up. She willed the tears in her eyes away, with only moderate success. She didn’t want his pity, she just wanted to apologize. “I tried really hard. But I didn’t have a chance. Luffy didn’t either but I- I said I’d look out for him but I’m doing a horrible job so far. I mean he stabbed himself in the face, ate a fruit that turned him into rubber and now he was almost killed by bandits.” At this he looked up at Shanks. He had been silently watching her. “So I’m sorry I’m doing a bad job. I’m sorry I’m not strong enough to deal with this on my own and had to get you.” She honestly expected him to laugh, or dismiss her. This seemed to be the usual response adults had for them. But Shanks did neither. He just nodded. 

“And if you dealt with it by yourself I wouldn’t have had to safe Luffy, losing my arm in the process.” 

It wasn’t an accusation, nor was it a question. He got her point and finished her thoughts for her. Yura nodded, tears now rolling down her face. “I’m sorry,” she repeated. He gave her a warm and understanding smile. Yura felt herself blush, which made her even more embarrassed in front of him. 

“I have a feeling Luffy will get into even more trouble in the future,” he mused, “I guess you will be right next to him, huh?” She guessed she would. 

She nodded, fumbling with her hands. She wanted to ask something else, had psyched herself up for it multiple times, but now that the opportunity was there she suddenly couldn’t look him in the eyes. Instead, she inspected the worn-down wood of the bar counter. 

“Can you help me get stronger?” she mumbled eventually. Even she heard that it was barely understandable. She felt Shanks shift beside her. 

“What?” Oh no, he was about to say no. She should have known. This was an awful idea. And he just lost an arm, so he should rest anyway. She should have asked Ben. Or Yasopp. Well, Yasopp would have said no and the pure thought of asking Ben to help her was scary and embarrassing. Her best chances lay with Shanks, so she had to argue her case. 

“I mean, if you want. I mean if Luffy gets in trouble even more I need to be strong and I saw how easily you guys beat up the bandits and you’re the captain so you’re very strong and I want to be too and I don’t know who else to ask and I understand if you don’t feel well enough and you already did so much but it would be really great if you could help and I will never ask anything else I promise so yeah.” 

She was rambling. In front of Shanks. She never did that, why was she so flustered all of a sudden? He was still an arrogant ass, saving Luffy didn’t change that. Right? And now he was laughing. Oh God, he’s laughing. This was such a bad idea. 

“You know, you’re the second person asking me that,” he said eventually, “well, not in so many words, but-“ 

“Luffy asked you?” Of course he had. “What did you tell him?” 

Shanks grinned. “I told him I have nothing better to do anyways.” 

~ ~ ~ ~ 

Obviously, the whole crew wanted to see this. They lounged in the shadow of Party’s Bar, drinks in hand, as usual. Shanks sat on a crate a couple meters away, his hat protecting his eyes from the relentless sun beating down. Makino watched from the sidelines as well, clearly not entirely satisfied with the situation. But she had agreed to this, surprisingly. Luffy and Yura had wanted to keep this a secret but Shanks had told her anyway and after what had happened she also thought that a few self-defense lessons couldn’t hurt the kids. She felt better letting them venture into the world knowing that they could hit back, she said. 

But Yura wasn’t sure what the lesson of this was. They were supposed to attack Shanks – something she felt extremely hesitant about at first due to his one-armed state. But it became clear very soon that no matter how much they tried, how fast they were or if they teamed up, Shanks was able to deflect all of their punches easily. Sometimes he graced them with a comment or a short advice, telling Yura to pull back her arm more before the punch, or warning Luffy that he was about to hurt himself more than the opponent if he threw himself in head-first like that. They tried for hours, Shanks didn’t seem to get tired at all and the kids were too stubborn to give up. But it was frustrating, to say the least. Of course, Shanks was also taunting them relentlessly. Yura had grown fond of the man over time but now she remembered vividly why she had hated him in the first place. 

At some point along the way, she had stopped trying. It wasn’t really that she wanted to give up, but her legs and arms were killing her. She was panting heavily and if she tried one more time the dizziness that had started to creep into her head would surely take her out. “This is stupid,” she huffed under her breath, staring at the red-haired bastard. He threw her a smug grin and – honest to God – a wink, but his attention was caught by Luffy again, who still went at it without a second thought. Shanks was just blocking, sometimes pushing the boy back a bit, just enough to make him stumble or fall back on his butt. But Luffy stood up every single time, brows furrowed, chest heaving. He didn’t try to use his devil fruit powers since he hadn’t figured out how to use them properly and this was probably a smart choice. 

It went on for another eternity. Luffy throwing a punch, Shanks swatting his hand away like an annoying fly, throwing the boy off balance, forcing him to draw back and try again. 

Eventually, Luffy’s movements began to slow down. Slightly at first, but it became more and more noticeable. 

“Don’t you want to take a break?” called Makino, worry in her voice. 

Luffy didn’t even answer and just went in for another attack. Shanks’ smile grew, but he didn’t say anything to stop him from trying. And then, in the midst of running towards Shanks, Luffy just fell over. A second passed, then another. He hadn’t pass out, in fact, he tried to get up multiple times but couldn’t manage more than a few twitches of an arm or a leg. Shanks waited a moment more before coming to his feet. He walked over to where the bundle of rubber was still lying in the dirt. 

“What, are you tired?” he taunted, leaning over the boy slightly. For good measure, he poked Luffy in the side with his foot a couple times, like he was an animal at the side of the road he wanted to inspect. Luffy managed to roll onto his back, just for the benefit of throwing a scathing glance up at the Captain. 

“No, I’m not,” said the clearly very tired Luffy. 

“You know, you can’t get very far in a real fight if you keel over after a couple minutes.” Another nudge with his foot. 

“Shup up, I’m not! I’m going to beat you!” 

“Clearly.” Shanks put his hand in his pocket, taking a casual stance while still looking down at Luffy. For him, this fight – if you could even call it that – was over. “Let’s continue tomorrow.” 

“No! I can still fight you!” Luffy protested from his spot on the floor. Not even the force of his frustration could help him now. 

Instead of answering immediately, Shanks lifted his foot to deal another playful kick. There was already a witty comment on his lips, but he didn’t get to gift the world with it. His head whipped around when he heard Yura running at him from behind. Their eyes locked briefly while she already drew back her arm for a punch to his left side. She knew it was her best chance to go for the side he could defend less and pushed away the guilt of using his missing arm to her advantage. But in this split second of eye contact she saw that he had been aware of her sneaking up on him and that even with one arm he would have had time to block her punch. 

But he didn’t. 

Her fist collided with his ribs, her momentum sending her whole body after it. Shanks let out a small Oof at the contact and stumbled back a step to regain balance. 

Yura pushed herself away as soon as she could, staring up at him with wide eyes. Her plan had worked, even if she didn’t expect it. She had won. 

Shanks’ face lit up in a grin that made her own smile grow. “Atta girl,” he said, clearly pleased with her. 

“You cheated!” Luffy complained behind her. She turned around to find him still on the ground, but he had managed to push himself in a sitting-position. His eyebrows were furrowed in a deep, unapproving scowl. Her own smile slipped away again. 

“There weren’t any rules,” she defended, but she was feeling worse about it by the second. Luffy didn’t let her continue. 

“The training was over, so it doesn’t count!” 

“You said it wasn’t!” 

“Shanks said it was! And you attacked from behind, like a coward!” 

“I’m not a coward!” 

If either of them still had a single bit of energy left, they would have started a brawl immediately. As it was, however, Luffy just managed to scowl up at her, while Yura took a threatening step in his direction. Shanks watched this unfold while Luffy was adamant. 

“Yes you are! If you need dirty tricks to win, you’re not better than a bandit!” This struck a nerve and Luffy had clearly used the word intending to hurt her. He was genuinely upset, beyond just being miffed that he had lost while she landed a hit. This threw Yura off guard, but she wouldn’t let him call her a filthy bandit – the worst insult he could have come up with. 

“Call me that again, see what happens!” she screeched, “If you wanna be a pirate you might as well fight like one!” Luffy’s mouth opened to argue, and then it closed again, because she had a point. He looked down at the ground, face still scrunched up in frustration. “I don’t wanna be this kind of pirate,” he declared finally. 

“That’s fine.” Shanks’ calm voice cut through their argument like a knife. The two kids had almost forgotten he was there. He was looking at Luffy. “If you don’t wanna cheat, you don’t have to. But everyone else definitely will, pirate, bandit or otherwise. You have to keep that in mind going into the fight, alright?” 

~ ~ ~ ~ 

The next day, the pirates made tem run laps trough the village. They collectively decided the kids needed to “get in shape” to “make sure the punch actually hurts once they manage to hit”. Of course, they didn’t care to accompany them but sat on their butts in front of Party’s Bar again, cheering them one when they ran past once again. Luffy wasn’t talking to her. That was new, considering he had the memory of a half-cooked pea and usually wasn’t able to hold a grudge even if he wanted to. But this time, he was so deeply upset with her, that he willed himself to be quiet, even if his mouth already opened automatically to talk to her. Every time this happened, he made an actual physical effort to press his lips together, whipping his head back to the front to continue running. He was also determined to run faster than her at all times. Given that she was still significantly taller than him, and therefore equipped with loner legs, this was quite the challenge for him. 

They were six rounds in when Yura lost her patience. 

“Will you just talk to me? Why are you so upset?” 

He didn’t answer. She rolled her eyes. 

“For real, it’s not that big of a deal, you can’t be that angry that you lost!” 

He almost said something, but then remembered he didn’t want to and sped up to get away from her. She went after him and he sped up again until they were both sprinting down the main road. 

“Can you stop?” she screeched when her lungs started burning. This wasn’t what they were supposed to do anyway. Luckily, Luffy didn’t have any stamina either, so granting her the request was as much to his benefit as it was to hers. He still had enough pettiness in him to turn to her, spitting his first words of the day. 

“Will you trip me if I don’t?” 

“Ah, so you’re still upset because you think I cheated, is that it? I told you I wasn’t!” 

“You attacked his left side!” 

“And?” 

Luffy stared at her incredulously. “He doesn’t have an arm there!” 

“Yes okay, maybe it was a bit unfair but do you really think he couldn’t have blocked that? He’s like -“ here she vaguely gestured with her hand, “crazy strong! We didn’t stand a chance!” 

“Well, then we should have lost.” They were running side by side again, to properly argue. 

“So you would rather lose fairly instead of winning like this?” 

“Yes.” 

She pondered that. “No, I disagree. I prefer winning over dying.” He sent her an irritated look. 

“You wouldn’t have died yesterday.” 

“No but in real life you would have been toast – hold on a second!” Her sides had begun to sting from all the talking and running. It was as if someone had wedged a giant needle into 

her and she stopped to bend over, clutching the painful spot. Luffy stopped next to her, worrying. 

“Are you okay?” 

“Hey! Keep running! No babbling along the way!” The voice belonged to Lou, who had found his inner drill sargent in the process of training them. He snickered into his leg of meat. Unfortunately for the children, they had stopped right in front of the bar, where the pirates were still day-drinking under the pretense of helping them. With a groan, Luffy and Yura started running again. 

After a while, and after they were definitely out of sight of the pirates, Luffy started talking again. Maybe he wasn’t that upset with her anymore, and Yura felt something like hope wash over her. But his voice was icy when he talked. 

“In my pirate crew, cheating won’t be allowed,” he declared, “You are my first-mate, so you have to listen to that too.” 

She didn’t have the nerve to argue anymore. If he was really going to be her captain she had to listen to him – a fact she suddenly realized would be really hard and also really weird. This was the first rule he set in place and it already didn’t sit right with her. “Okay,” she said, because after all, pirates lied, didn’t they? 

~ ~ ~ ~ 

Yura was still in a bad mood about Luffy and her fighting. She didn’t like it when they argued anyway and they never had a fight this long. Not only because he was basically her only friend, but because she was his only friend too, and seeing him moping around alone as well was just horribly frustrating. He had calmed down a bit after she had agreed to his stupid rule, one she still didn’t really feel like following but didn’t know what to do about it. She stood at the bar counter, cleaning glasses when Ben sat down in front of her. 

“Will you fetch me a beer, please?” he asked and she brought it to him with a nod before continuing the cleaning. She could feel him looking at her. 

“What?” she snapped, feeling bad about it immediately. 

“You’re moping. Never saw you so down before. Are you still cross with the Anchor?” 

She had to smile at the nickname. “Yeah,” she mumbled grumpily. He nodded, but stayed where he was, clearly content with sitting alone for a bit. She didn’t want to annoy him, but she could really use a third opinion. Yura thought back to his fight with the bandits. “Hey, Ben?” 

He grunted in acknowledgement. Her nerves shrunk, but she had already started this. 

“Do you cheat in a fight?” 

“Well, I’m a pirate.” 

She huffed in annoyance. “That’s not an answer.” Although everyone seemed to treat it as a really good one. Ben seemed to sense how serious she was about this and he set down his beer to properly face her. 

“Yeah I do, if I have to,” he answered, “why do you ask?” 

He had witnessed the fight with Shanks, but she didn’t really take him for the kind of guy to keep track of an argument between children. 

“Luffy said once he’s captain of his own crew, no one in it is allowed to cheat. Ever.” 

Ben huffed at her explanation. “You don’t seem happy with it.” She shrugged. He looked at her for a moment, then took a glance past her to where Makino was busy talking to another costumer. Whatever he was going to tell her would be more of an inofficial conversation. He leaned a bit in her direction, his long legs crossed to the side. 

“Listen. You’re what, seven?” She nodded, “if you get into any trouble you won’t stand much of a chance.” Yura averted her eyes in embarrassment. He wasn’t wrong. “So it’s pretty save to say, if worst comes to worst it’s either cheating or dying. Look at me.” She did. 

“You can try to be honest but if you don’t have a choice, you gotta cheat where you can, yeah? Promise me that.” 

She nodded. “I promise.” 

“Good. And that means,” He lifted a hand, starting to count on his fingers. “You go for eyes, nose, throat, solar plexus-”. 

“Sola- what?” 

He reached over to poke her in the tummy, a hand width over her belly button, just where her ribs ended. He didn’t even poke hard but the discomfort spread down to her stomach immediately. Like nausea, but not quite. “There,” he said. “Solar plexus.” 

She nodded. 

“And, if you need a straight knockout” he continued counting, “go for the nuts if it’s a man.” 

“What the fuck are you telling the kid?” This was Yasopp, who had overheard that last bit of the conversation and was now making his way to stand next to Ben. The man in question grinned dismissively at his friend. 

“Teaching her self-defense. Captain didn’t tell them shit so far.” 

Yasopp turned his gaze on her with a quirk of a brow. “Well, you don’t just kick someone in the nuts if you don’t absolutely have to-“ he started, a painful expression crossing his face at the mere thought, “but if you do ... listen, I’m sure you’re going to be a beautiful woman when you grow up. If a man tries anything funny with you, by all means, rip his fucking dick off if you have to.”

~ ~ ~ ~ 


	12. The Long Goodbye

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh no here we go~

With every passing day, Shanks became more restless. Before the incident with Higuma, the Red Hair pirates went to sea fairly often, coming back after a few days. Then, Shanks lost his arm and needed time to recover before continuing the dangerous pirate life – he didn’t admit it, but he also wasn’t stupid enough to try to go out and fight when he couldn’t even keep his balance properly when walking a straight line. 

Yura knew he was a pirate not only by profession, but also by heart, meaning he couldn’t be away from the sea for long before suffering deeply from it. Yasopp had once commented on the Captain’s moody twitchiness, saying it was like taking a fish out of water. The other pirates had groaned at the horrible pun. Yura was just glad Shanks couldn’t actually die from being on land for too long, even if he acted as if life would leave him any moment soon. 

The Red Hair pirates hadn’t planned to stay in Foosha that long. It was one of the good outcomes of the bandit disaster if you asked her: Sailing the Grand Line in Shanks’ state was unthinkable. Even when they went out again, it was in the safety of the East Blue. After what she had witnessed, Yura doubted there was anything seriously dangerous to them here. But seeing Shanks step away from the prospect of the Grand Line immediately made her scared of it even more. This was where Luffy needed to go to become Pirate King. This was where she needed to go with him. And this crew – the strongest people she had ever seen – didn’t want to go there if their captain wasn’t at hundred percent. 

But eventually, he regained his strength. Yura felt the day approach like a storm on the horizon. And then, finally, a date was set. Yura caught it at the bar, where Makino was discussing the supplies she would help them put together. They didn’t seem to need help with the maths of it and so Yura’s immediate thought was to tell Luffy. It took a while to find him, which was weird because by now she knew him pretty well and usually knew where to look. One of the shop-keepers of the market finally saw her looking and pointed her in the right direction. 

Luffy was playing with the other kids. A mean spike of jealousy shot through her at the sight. Yura never got along with the other kids, no matter how much Makino tried to encourage her to try to make more friends. The truth was that after befriending Luffy right after she came to the village, she didn’t really need more friends. There had been way too many children at the orphanage and she was fine with having more time for herself here. Plus, making friends required A) effort she wasn’t ready to put into another person more than once and B) willingness to engage with the children of this village, who – at Yura’s first glance – seemed to be so different from her previous home. The fact that Luffy didn’t really talk to the others much played right into her plan. Although, now that she thought about it, she didn’t know why he kept his distance. Luffy grew up here, so shouldn’t he be friends with all of them? At the moment, she was glad he wasn’t. She liked their little gang of two and a very selfish part of her liked that she was his only friend. Or so she thought. So why was he with those other children now? 

Warily, she approached the scene. There was a lot of yelling, as per usual at children’s games. Luffy stood with his back to her, so he didn’t see her approach. The other kids were a bit older than the two of them. They were laughing at something Luffy said. There was this jealousy again, Yura noticed. 

“Wait so you’re saying it didn’t even hurt when the bandit hit you?” a boy with strawberry blonde hair asked skeptically. 

“No! I mean I felt it but not much and it didn’t even bruise that much!” That was Luffy’s voice. It was strangely distorted, as if he was chewing on something. When Yura came closer she realized it was because he was busy pulling his cheeks in a comical manner. He was demonstrating his devil fruit powers. The blonde and his friends cooed and gasped excitedly. 

“My dad said devil fruits are just a fairy tale!” A girl in a frilly skirt shrieked. Somehow she clung to her father’s words despite seeing evidence of said powers with her own eyes. The blonde scoffed. 

“Well, your dad is stupid then. Hey, let me try too!” He didn’t really wait for an answer before grabbing at Luffy’s cheek and pulling. The rubbery stretch clearly delighted him. The other kids stared in awe and, caught by their leader’s enthusiasm, wanted a try too. Luffy giggled at first, after all they didn’t hurt him. But when four different pairs of hands tried to see how far his limbs could actually stretch, he started to get uncomfortable. 

“Wait, I don’t want to play anymore,” he declared but the children were too far gone in their play. Yura could almost understand it, there was nothing better to do and certainly nothing better to see around here than a boy made of rubber. But as soon as Luffy struggled to get free, her brows knit together and she made a bee line for the group. 

“Let go!” Luffy was positively panicking now, unable to keep the girl in the skirt from bending his arm in different shapes, impressing a boy with a crooked nose next to her. 

“Hey, leave him alone!” Yura drawled, shoving the girl from behind. The giraffe she just knotted together like a balloon animal dissolved, retracting back to Luffy’s side. The others stopped their giggles and chatter to stare at her. The girl had fallen over, scraping her knee on the pavement. She turned around in shock, tears already brimming in their eyes. 

“She pushed me!” the girl cried out, pointing at her. Crooked nose was in Yura’s face immediately. 

“You can’t just push her, she’s a girl!” he was trying to make himself look taller. 

“Oh yeah?” Yura asked in the brattiest voice she could muster. “Well, I’m a girl too.” She shoved the boy right in the chest. “And I do what I want.” He stumbled back, almost falling over the girl. Her skirt was nice, actually. It looked impractical, but the pattern was colorful. It was probably expensive. And now, it was stained with dirt. The girl was still crying. The blonde helped her up, but she shook him off. 

“My mother says girls don’t get into fights,” she declared, making her way back to Yura. 

Yura scrunched her nose up. “And do you always do what your mommy tells you?” she taunted. The girl grinned through her tears. 

“No,” she said and shoved Yura back. 

“Well, maybe you should.” The girl was shoved in return. This went on for a while with increasing force and less and less arguments. Eventually, the blonde stepped in again, grabbing Yura by her shirt, yanking her into the dirt. She kicked his shin. He yelped. Behind him, Luffy wanted to help her, but was held back by nose boy. A third boy punched Luffy in the face. 

“Hey, he really doesn’t seem to feel much!” the third boy exclaimed, punching again. He was laughing with glee. 

“Leave him!” Yura screamed again. She was back on her feet and trying to get to her friend. The blonde leader and the girl kept her away. They enjoyed having the upper hand. “Lu!” Yura cried. She threw herself forward, stretching her arms in his direction as far as possible. It was no use, she couldn’t reach him. With a frustrated grunt, she stopped struggling and the two children sensed this and let go of her warily. Yura turned around, as if giving up, but when the two lowered their arms, she turned on her heel and ducked through their middle. She dodged the girl’s hand, almost tripping over the blonde’s leg but made it through. The third boy was still holding on to Luffy and having no time to think much, Yura kicked him in the leg as well, right in the back of his knee. This threw him off balance and Luffy came free just as the blonde threw himself at her. They went to the ground in a bundle of limbs. His elbow smacked into her cheek, her fingers slipped over his jaw, trying to push him off. But she was on her back and he was older than her. He drew back his fist to punch her, and Yura closed her eyes and tried to protect her face as much as possible. But the impact never came. Suddenly, the weight on top of her was gone. There was screaming. And when Yura looked up, he saw the blonde leader scrambling to his feet. His eyes were bulging out of their sockets and he tried to reach something behind him. He tried to reach Luffy, who was clinging to his back like a monkey, his teeth buried in the boy’s shoulder. His limbs were wrapped around him multiple times. 

It was a bizarre sight, but finally, the boy managed to throw Luffy off. And before he could do anything, Yura, still on the ground, gathered the dirt from around her and threw it at his face. He creamed again. His friends tried to help him. And in the whole mess, Luffy and Yura made a swift exit. 

They ran until they fell into one of the trenches, laughing. The other kids wouldn’t find them here. 

“I know why we never play with them,” Yura gasped, seeing her worldview completely validated. 

Luffy giggled. “They are so mean!” 

“Yeah, but we are meaner!” 

“We destroyed them!” Luffy pumped his fist into the air in an imagined punch. She grinned. 

“Hell yeah! You held on to that guy like a monkey! Wait, is that why you’re called like this? Are you actually a monkey?” 

“Don’t be stupid, it’s my dad’s name.” 

“Is your dad a monkey?” 

He laughed at the thought. “No, I think he is a man.” 

“You think?” 

“I never met him.” 

That’s right, she never saw any of Luffy’s family. At this point she assumed he just didn’t have any, but he must have had parents at some point, right? Then again… 

“I never met my parents either. At least you know the name of your dad.” Yura sulked a bit. To her surprise, Luffy just shrugged. 

“I can’t miss them if I don’t know them, right? I’ll just have to make my own family.” 

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. Hey, wanna be a family with me?” It was meant as a joke, but Yura realized he was one of two people she could even consider to be anything close to family. Luffy didn’t even consider it anything but an honest question. He grinned like pure sunshine. 

“Yeah! We’re family!” he lifted one hand in her direction and they interlocked their pinky fingers in some kind of promise. It was settled. “What about Makino?” Luffy asked. 

“Yeah, I guess she is family too. Oh God, we can’t tell her about this.” 

“Nah, she won’t even notice.” He looked them both up and down critically. “We aren’t even hurt that much.” 

“You’re right! Hey, the pirate training is paying off!” She beamed at him, proud of them both. 

“Hell yeah!” Luffy exclaimed, throwing her own words back at her. But this reminded her of why she had wanted to find him in the first place. 

“Uh, Lu? I heard them talk at the bar – the pirates and Makino, I mean. They’ll leave next Tuesday.” 

“When will they be back?” 

There was a moment of silence in which Luffy seemed to realize what she meant. He sat up in the grass, turning to her. “No.” he simply said. 

“Lu-“ 

“No!” 

“We knew they would leave eventually.” 

“Yeah, eventually isn’t now.” 

“It kind of seems like it is.” 

With a huff, he fell back into the green grass. When she looked over, Luffy was staring at the clouds with empty eyes. 

“I don’t want them to leave either,” she admitted. Luffy huffed again. 

“I do. They can leave. I don’t care.” The way his bottom lip was wobbling told her he was lying. 

~ ~ ~ ~ 

“Do you really have to leave?” she asked Ben, and it was the most childish question she allowed herself these days. Being a child had brought her nothing but bad news, so Yura was set on becoming an adult incredibly fast. She marked her height on the door frame of her bedroom every couple of weeks now. 

Ben chuckled, not surprised at all. 

“You know we have to,” he said, “you would grow tired of us anyway.” 

She gasped in offense. “Never!” 

The crew laughed at her. They were all standing at the pier, their ship right behind them. Yura had been here numerous times, in fact it was one of her favorite places after the trenches. But today she really didn’t want to be here and she really didn’t want this to happen. A good part of the crew was busy loading supplies – well, mostly alcohol - on board. 

Shanks turned to her and Yura knew he would have crossed his arms if he could. Instead, he just put his hand on his hip. “Seems like we actually grew on you in the end, huh, princess?” he quipped. 

Her cheeks started burning immediately. “Shut up,” she mumbled back, but didn’t deny it. The pirates might have weaseled their way into her heart somewhere between their stupid jokes and saving her best friend’s life, but Yura would rather die than admitting it out loud, stroking Shanks’ ego even further. But he knew, and his grin widened. 

“Arrogant bastard.” 

She wouldn’t have realized she said it out loud were it not for Makino’s scandalized yelp of her name. “What’s gotten into you?” she asked Yura and turned to the addressed bastard. “I’m sorry, she’s just upset.” His grin hadn’t even wavered. Yura stood a bit straighter, because you know what? He was an arrogant bastard and he might as well know that she knew it. 

“I wonder how many times you called me that in your head,” he mused. 

“Couple times.” 

“Figures. Ben and Yasopp rubbed off on you.” 

Yasopp behind him shoved his captain playfully. “We got nothing to do with that, she reached that conclusion all by herself.” 

“Smart kid,” Ben agreed, smirking. 

“Yeah she is,” Shanks laughed and turned back to the girl. There was a much gentler expression on his face now. “You’ll need those brain cells out there – for both of you, I’m afraid.” He chuckled at his own joke. It was a good one because it was true. And Shanks realized this as well. He stepped a bit closer to her, shutting the others out of their conversation effectively. “I know you’ll look out for him. That’s good – he’s a good kid, but he’s too trusting. Just...” he paused a moment, seeming, for a split second, like he didn’t know how to phrase his thoughts. “look out for yourself too, yeah?” 

Yura stared up to him with big eyes. What did he mean? He didn’t elaborate, but instead ruffled her hair to drive his point home. Shanks then exhaled turning his head left and right to look along the small port. 

“Speaking of, he isn’t showing up, huh?” 

Indeed, Luffy wasn’t there. He didn’t even show up at the bar this morning and when Yura went to look for him he still claimed that he didn’t care the pirates were leaving and didn’t want to say good-bye. The way he had sat on the floor, drawing patterns in the dirt, had told her otherwise, but no matter how much she tried to push him, she couldn’t make him go with her. 

“He’s being stupid,” Yura explained, because she somehow felt bad for Shanks, “He’s very upset.” 

Shanks smiled at her in understanding. “I know. Tell him I’m sorry, yeah? And that I’m looking forward to seeing him on the Grand Line.” 

Yura just nodded. Her throat felt too tight and she couldn’t even pretend she wasn’t crying at this point. Shanks turned to his ship, most of his men already on board. His black cloak was billowing in the wind coming from the sea and the picture seemed so incredibly right that Yura couldn’t even be angry at him for leaving. He made his way to the gangplank. 

Yasopp was still standing next to her, taking a moment to smile at his captain’s dramatic antics, but turned to the girl to say his good-bye too. 

“I hope my own boy is doing at least half as good as you, girl. Take care, yeah?” He drew her into a hug and she slung her little arms around his thighs. Her tears were soaking into his clothes, but she didn’t cling onto him when he let go. 

Ben was the last one. His heavy hand landed on her shoulder as he leaned down. 

“Don’t forget what we told you,” he said, barely audible over the waves behind them, “rip the dick off if you have to.” Despite the sinking weight in her stomach, his vulgar advice made her laugh. He threw her a wicked grin past his cigarette as well and left for his ship. 

Ever the Captain, Shanks had waited for his men to go on board before setting foot on his ship himself. He was half way up the gangplank when a shrill scream pierced the air. 

“Shaaaaaaaaaaaaanks!” 

The man in question turned around, instinctively clocking the source of the noise. All heads turned to Luffy, who was barreling down the port with incredible speed. He slid to a stop in front of the ship but made no move to try to get on. He was panting heavily and took a moment to gather his breath before speaking. 

“I won’t beg you to come along anymore, Shanks!” he exclaimed, “I will become a pirate with my own strength!” 

Shanks had turned around, still standing in the middle of the wooden planks leading on board. He struck his tongue out playfully. “I wouldn’t take you with me anyway,” he said. 

“I’ll find my own crew, a better one than yours! I will become the strongest pirate in the world and find the One Piece! Just wait and see!” 

“Is that so?” The captain made his way back slowly, coming to a stand before Luffy. The boy looked up to him in bewilderment. “Well, in that case, I’ll leave this with you,” he continued and dropped his straw hat onto Luffy’s head. Even from multiple meters away, Yura could see the tears spilling under its brim immediately. Shanks just smiled. “It’s very important to me, so take care of it, will you? And one day, when you’re a great pirate, you’ll give it back to me.” 

Those were his final words before leaving. They stood and watched until the ship had long vanished behind the horizon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here we are, the end of the Shanks Arc. Do you know what's next? :)))))


	13. The World According to Garp

The Red Hair pirates left a hole in their lives that the two children tried to fill with what they called training. Admittedly, they didn’t get very far since there was nothing to test their strength on, but they built up a good amount of muscle strength and stamina at least. Yura didn’t realize it had been roughly a year since saying good-bye to Shanks, until Luffy’s birthday came around and Makino and she spent the whole morning baking a cake for the boy. 

Here was the thing about birthdays for Yura: 

Before coming to Foosha, birthdays weren’t that big of a deal for her. There were frequent ones at the orphanage, of course, but the place didn’t have the money or the means to do something every single time a kid got a year older. The only thing that was obligatory was singing the same birthday song at the dining room for breakfast, and even that became tiresome eventually. Plus, getting older wasn’t a desirable thing for most of the children since many of them wanted to be adopted by a nice family and their chances of that happening decreased with every year. Not many people wanted to adopt a kid that had already passed all the cute baby years. It didn’t make a difference to Yura herself – she belonged to the few kids who weren’t up for adoption. She didn’t know the reason. Some of the other kids were just too misbehaved or ill but she’d like to think this wasn’t a problem with her. The women watching them never gave her a good answer either and eventually Yura stopped asking altogether. 

The point is that birthdays didn’t mean much to her. And then she got to know Makino, who had known her birthday from Garp and had surprised her with a cake in the morning, balloons and candles included. Makino had sat her down, ranted down a list of things she wished upon her for the coming year and had told her to make a wish herself when blowing out the candles. Yura had wished to feel at home in Foosha, and since it came true she was a fierce believer in the birthday wish magic. The same had happened a year later, with the Red Hair Pirates around and they did the same for Luffy then too. And now they were doing it again. 

The boy burst into the bar like a bouncing ball, already smelling cake frosting and baked dough. He sat down at the bar - fork already in hand, a gleam in his eye. 

“Happy birthday, Luffy!” exclaimed Makino with a bright grin and lit the candles on the cake. “I wish you health and happiness and that you keep out of trouble this year.” She knew the last one was impossible, but wishing didn’t hurt. Yura ran around the counter to deliver the birthday bear hug – another esteemed tradition for this day. 

“Happy birthday, Lu!” she yelled in his ear and he winced, laughing. She had thought about her wishes for the last two days. “I wish you health as well, obviously, but also strength to kick the butt of your enemies and that you grow a bit more this year so you get big as a bear and really scary!” She ruffled his hair. 

She didn’t know what he wished for when he blew out the candles and she didn’t ask – telling the wish meant it didn’t come true! She had a feeling it had something to do with becoming pirate king, but maybe for now he was content with being a year older and therefore a year closer to going to sea as a pirate. 

~ ~ ~ ~ 

Of course, the whole ordeal was repeated a month later at her own birthday. Makino wished her health, happiness and and the knowledge of a million new things. Luffy wanted her to gain the strength worthy of a first mate, and to have enough food so she’s never hungry this year. When Yura blew the candles out, she wished for them both to stay in her life for another year. 

And this wish, above everything else, was the reason she felt extreme cosmic betrayal when Garp appeared one day to take Luffy with him. 

“No way gramps! I’m going to stay here with Yu and Makino!” 

Luffy was currently dangling from his giant fist, remarkably similar to her own encounter with the Marine years ago. You would never guess that these two were family from the way Garp punched the boy’s lights out every chance he got. 

“Shut it, brat!” he drawled, “You’re going with me. It’s all planned already.” 

Makino wasn’t convinced either. “How is bringing him to mountain bandits going to help him become a Marine?” she asked incredulously. This was probably not fitting into her idea of a good upbringing for a child. Obviously, Garp didn’t want to hear it. 

“Look at him, he’s still a puny bean sprout! The time for playing around is over – clearly this isn’t the ideal surroundings to make him strong. The mountains will give him some guts.” 

“You can’t leave him with bandits!” Yura said, whose opinion of bandits hadn’t changed since the incident with Shanks, “If the monsters and animals there won’t kill him, these people will!” 

Garp just laughed. “If he can’t deal with small fry like that, he will never have a chance of becoming admiral!” There was an odd sparkle in his eye. The man had it all figured out, probably already spoke to all the important people at the marine headquarters. Too bad the one important factor for his plan was missing. 

“I don’t wanna be an admiral anyways! I’m going to be a pirate!” A giant fist connected with Luffy’s face. 

“That’s another reason you’re going! I should have never left you so open to the influence of filthy pirate scum!” 

“Shanks isn’t scum! He’s the best and the strongest!” 

“He saved his life!” Yura threw in helpfully. Talking bad about Shanks made Garp sink even lower in her opinion. He turned on her. 

“He shouldn’t have needed saving in the first place! He needs training.” 

Begrudgingly, Yura had to admit that he had a point there. She had already noticed that their progress wasn’t big enough. Garp’s methods might be insane, but they sounded effective. Probably their best chance of reaching their goal. Yura crossed her arms. 

“Okay, but I want to come too.” It was an obvious bargain, but apparently Makino and Garp agreed on that one. 

“No you’re not!” Makino called at the same time that Garp impulsively smashed a bar stool. 

“And why not?” 

“It’s not fitting for a girl,” Garp said, “you don’t need to be strong.” 

“What if I get in trouble?” 

“Luffy will be able to protect you once he’s a great marine.” 

“Oh, so we’re still allowed to be friends?” 

“Friends? Ha, brat, I’ll expect you to be married by the time he’s vice admiral. Oh, how strong the great-grandchildren will be-” 

There was a distinct silence where everyone tried to process what he just said while Garp seemed to be lost in his future dreamworld. 

“M-married?” Yura choked out and met Luffy’s eyes across the room. 

“Children?” he winced. The whole idea was creepy at best, nausea-inducing at worst. She felt as green around the nose as Luffy looked. 

“No way.” 

“Why do you think I brought you here, brat?” 

Makino came to her rescue. “To give her a normal childhood away from an orphanage, how about that?” she exclaimed. 

There really were multiple good explanations, all of which seemed to rely on a certain good-heartedness of Garp. Yura never detected such a trait in the man and it seemed she was right. She flinched. Of course he’d had a higher motive. She had asked herself why he brought her here but trying to understand Garp’s reasoning seemed pointless. She didn’t even know why he knew her in the first place. Speaking of. 

“Why me?” she asked, and it was almost drowned in Makino’s stormy rant. 

It’s funny, he could have pretended to ignore her. Instead, he was just staring at her, seemingly not having any interest in actually answering. But he owed her an explanation, didn’t he? 

“Why me, old man?” she repeated, more insistently. Garp contemplated. Then he wedged his grandson under his arm and turned. 

“That’s enough,” he declared, “We’ve lost too much time already arguing. Thanks for the coffee Makino, I’ll be in touch.” 

Luffy’s screams pierced the quiet of the village. It seemed he wouldn’t even have time to pack anything, or say goodbye properly. Makino held her back as Garp walked off towards Mount Colubo. They were gone within minutes. 

~ ~ ~ ~ 

What do you need for a jungle adventure? Courage, yes, she was working on that. A couple clothes, a raincoat, a blanket. She would have to steal supplies from the kitchen. There was no question about whether she would follow them. But Makino wouldn’t allow it and so Yura needed to be careful. She didn’t like keeping secrets from the woman, and she disliked it even more to steal from their money to buy a map of the island. But Yura could apologize later - if she survived, that was. Maybe she should just leave a note. 

Her preparations were done within half a day. She didn’t want to go at night – way too scary - and so she was forced to wait till the early morning hours. There was a tiny gap between sunrise and the time Makino got up she would use to leave. Maybe she could still find Garp’s massive footsteps. Luckily it didn’t look like rain, so they might still be there. 

Going to sleep was hard. She already missed her bed and tried to memorize the feel of her pillow, the smell of the flat. She didn’t want to leave, but it wasn’t really a choice. She woke up on time, her backpack was hidden under her bed. By now she knew the stairs by heart and got down to the bar without a sound. Food and water were packed in no time. And in the end, Yura sat in front of a blank piece of paper, pen in hand, and just stared at it. What was she supposed to say? ‘Sorry I’m leaving’ didn’t really cut it. There were a million things she wanted to say, a million more she should say but didn’t want to. Yura didn’t know if she would come back or if this was goodbye forever. She didn’t know how big the island was. But Garp had walked, so she was certain she could make it as well. 

“Writer’s block?” 

The voice behind her nearly gave her a heart attack, no matter how quietly Makino had said the words. She was standing in the doorway, a smile on her face. She looked at the backpack, but didn’t seem surprised at all. 

“I’m- uh… I don’t know what to say,” Yura admitted, turning around to face her. 

Makino nodded and went to the fridge. She began rummaging through it with determination. 

“You didn’t take the cheese.” She set it out on a counter without looking. “And you should take some apples as well, to stay healthy. I bet Luffy isn’t getting enough vitamins either, so maybe have an eye on him too. Did you take the good water bottle?” 

Yura just nodded sheepishly. The woman set out some more food and began tying it to a neat bundle. “I don’t know how long you’ll be walking, but definitely take sun screen and the mosquito bite cream with you.” 

It was weird that she said all this with her smile in place, as if she wasn’t agreeing to sending her child into a dangerous jungle. The last thing she did was putting _The Gardener’s Guide to East Blue_ in Yura’s backpack. Yura’s eyes began stinging at the sight of it. “I added some notes about the plants growing here. Always check before you eat anything, understood?” 

“Makino…” 

The woman sighed. “If you don’t visit I’ll be really mad. If anything’s wrong you come back.” 

Yura nodded, tears streaming down her face. Makino wiped them away gently. 

“Thank you.” Yura’s voice sounded wavy and unsure even to her own ears. “I took money from the cash register, I’ll give it back. I’m sorry-“ she paused, at the same dilemma as with her note before. 

“I know you have to do this. You don’t have to explain.” The woman hugged her tightly and Yura had no problem melting into it. “I’ll miss having you around. You’ll always have a place here.” 

Yura pried herself off her and left the bar. She forced herself not to look back and went through the empty streets with a strange feeling in her gut. 

And soon, not even fifteen minutes later, she stood at the edge of the village, in the shadow of the last windmill. Suddenly, her knees were trembling as she peered out to the forest in the distance. She knew she would encounter tough situations, but this seemed way too early even for her expectation. 

The Finger-Tree Forest. 

She never got over her initial fear of the ominous chestnut trees. She had even been too scared to look them up in the book. But know Yura realized that in order to get to Luffy, she had to cross her own childhood nightmare. 

She squinted again. From here, the leaves didn’t look like hands at all. They were green, just like the rest of them. Maybe it was just the distance. But if Garp had made his way through it, she would too. She wasn’t a little kid anymore after all. 

Adjusting the position of her backpack, she got ready. And then sprinted out in the open, right between the treeline. Her eyes were pressed shut, because if she didn’t see it, it would be fine. Her journey came to an aprupt stop when her forehead came in harsh contact with one of the finger trees. Yura fell back. Luckily, the moss was a lot softer than the wood. With a huff, she opened her eyes, staring up to what she feared would be the scene straight out of a horror movie. But all she saw was vivid green. The sunshine was breaking through the leaves as a slight breeze ruffled them. One of the leaves fell off its branch and sailed down to her. She saw it approach and tried catching it in the air. There were five long stripes of leaf attached to the little stem. No flesh or skin in sight. It looked pretty. Yura laughed to herself. If all of these challenges turned out to be that easy, she would be fine. 

The way took a lot longer than she expected – and she didn’t know what to expect in the first place. The jungle seemed to never end and the path got thinner and thinner until it eventually vanished completely. Sometimes Garp’s boot had left an imprint in the moss, but she was afraid this wouldn’t be enough to go by. She checked the map frequently, but it didn’t say anything about a bandit lair – the cowards were hiding in the unknown jungle land. Typical bandits. She was just trying to guess where they were on the map, when a screech broke through the trees. Yura turned around to be greeted with the white scared eyes of a deer running down the path. It didn’t mind her one bit and was gone in an instant. Three others followed after it. Yura stared after them in awe. There weren’t many animals in Foosha, except for cows and chickens. But these looked so much prettier than the cows. And, Yura realized, they looked scared. Scared of what? 

The growl answered her question. The orange fur of what seemed to be a large cat gleamed in the sunlight. The cat had made its way after the deer, but now that it had noticed the little girl standing alone at the clearing it seemed to have changed its lunch menu. It was a giant beast, yellow teeth bared, claws digging into the ground. The feeling of absolute terror was vaguely familiar, so she knew how her body responded. But staying rooted to the place would only get her killed. She did what every sensible human would do. 

She ran. 

The narrow trees gave her a good cover. The cat was way larger than her, so Yura could duck under crooked branches and made sharp turns when the animal was too close. The cat broke most of the barriers in two like they were nothing. She couldn’t believe Makino had willingly sent her on this journey – surely she hadn’t known about this! Yura really really didn’t want to die! 

Jumping over a rock she had misjudged the little slope behind it. She tumbled down, thrown forward by her momentum. She lost her backpack somewhere along the way. But there was no time to take a breather and she rolled herself to the side, just as a clawed paw dug into the moss where her head had been a second ago. Yura got back to her feet, running in an entirely different direction. The cat turned around, growling terribly. It made to jump at her again when a metal pipe connected with its head. It went down. Unconscious, just like that. 

Yura skidded to a halt. 

There was a boy wielding the pipe, who now stood on the cat’s body, kicking at the head experimentally. Yura stared. He grinned up at her. There was a giant gap in his teeth. It reminded her of Luffy a couple years ago. He was also carrying her backpack. 

“Sheesh, you’re fast as a weasel,” the boy said and then shrugged. “You still would have died, obviously.” He sounded young. God, he was about her own age and he had just smashed a beast like that? Maybe Garp was right about the jungle. 

“Are you a bandit?” she asked, squinting in suspicion. 

“Do I look like one?” He didn’t have anything in common with Higuma’s lot. Except maybe the dirt. And the attitude. His clothes seemed posh. Or, well, they originally were - now they hung off him like he had been wearing them for years. The tophat was strange. He didn’t look scary. 

She crossed her arms. “I don’t know. You’re pretty young for a bandit.” 

“I’m too smart to be one as well. But you’re not much brighter either, huh, weasel girl? You shouldn’t walk alone here if you’re so weak.” He was still grinning, hopping down from the cat. She was obviously no threat to him. Yura eyed the pipe warily. 

“I’m looking for someone. I think they are with the bandits, though.” 

“Boy, you’re off the right way then. How did you manage to get lost that badly?” 

The boy was cocky, all right. He looked at her as if she was the village idiot, but Yura seriously doubted he was as smart as he thought he was himself. He seemed to know his way around, though. She suppressed the urge to snap at him. “Uh, I was kind of chased by a large cat if you didn’t notice. Do you know which way I have to go?” She pointed to her backpack. 

“That’s mine, by the way.” 

“I sure do.” He proceeded to give her directions - pretty good ones actually – while giving her her things back. She was mildly surprised that she didn’t need to fight for it, but the relief definitely outweighed her suspicion. After he was done, she thanked him and he tipped his top hat at her mockingly. 

“At your service, weasel girl. I will take the cat now and be on my way, if you don’t mind.” 

He went over to the unconscious beast and began dragging it through the woods. It looked easy when he did it and once more, Yura was left gaping after him speechlessly. 

Eventually, she just shook her head and went on her way, now a pretty clear understanding where she had to go. She even found something close to a path again – not the clear sandy one she had started out on, but a lot of bodies had flattened the grass here over time. She went to check her location on the map again. But when she opened her backpack, only a couple of dirty rocks were in it, instead of her things. 

The top hat boy had tricked her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sabo is an absolutely feral gremlin and noone can change my mind.


	14. New Encounters

From all the things the stupid boy had stolen, the Gardener’s Guide was by far the biggest loss. Not only would it have been extremely useful in this foreign jungle but staring at the notes Makino had left behind in it had been a steady source of peace and warmth for Yura. But there was no use grieving it now – her number one priority was survival and finding Luffy. In that order, preferably. 

Luckily, top hat boy didn’t lie about the directions. Maybe it had been pity or some semblance of a bad conscience – whatever it was it had saved Yura’s life because there was no way she would have survived the night without any supplies. She was a lot quicker without any weight to carry, though and the path she was following kept her on steady ground. She had to dodge some of the larger animals, but slowly she learned to recognize noises and avoid trouble. The sun was already pretty low on the horizon when the forest opened to a house. It looked shabby and crooked, the signs of a well-meaning but ultimately failing hand visible in various reparations. Luckily, the trees around it seemed to shelter the house from bad weather and wind. There was some kind of watchtower attached to the roof. Did this look like the hideout of bandits? Yura wasn’t sure. According to the stories she heard in the village she had imagined something like a cave full of stolen treasure. But maybe that sounded more like a dragon den. She supposed she had to find out who lived there anyway, so she walked up to the door and knocked. 

While she waited, she realized that this maybe wasn’t the best strategy. She didn’t know if Luffy was here. And even if he was, in which condition would she find him? Bandits were cruel and mean – maybe they were keeping him prisoner or forced him to work for them. They would surely do the same thing with her before she could even think about rescuing him. How many bandits were there anyway? Twenty? Fifty? She was in way over her head here and she didn’t have any weapons. The single knife she had brought had been in the backpack, so it was now in the possession of the stupid hat boy. 

There was a mixture of frustration and fear inside of her when the door finally opened. Yura suddenly found herself at the end of a short sable. Behind it was a large person with curly hair. An angular face on a round body. This person was scowling right down at her. 

“Got lost?” The voice was harsh and rough. The frequent costumers at the bar had a voice like that sometimes, when the strong alcohol had scrubbed the vocal cords raw. Yura had learned that the best strategy for hostile drunkards was insistent politeness. The girl smiled. 

“Actually, I’m looking for someone-“ 

“Well, you ain’t gonna find them here, girly. The type of guys here don’t have friends or family – well, none that would want to see them anyways.” Yura still couldn’t figure out if this was a man or woman in front of her and she feared that assuming wrong wouldn’t exactly help her case. At least the person had lowered the sword a bit. Suspicion was still on their face, though. 

“Still, maybe you have seen him. He’s hard to miss. A little boy with a straw hat – super loud, scar under his left eye. Might have gotten dragged along by a giant, mean looking man. The man might have been screaming as well. Might have punched the boy close to death?” 

The person just stared at her. Yura’s smile wavered when she realized how her description sounded. Well, if they had seen Luffy or Garp, they would know. 

“Are you kidding?” they asked, then scoffed. “I haven’t seen anyone. Now get lost before the animals eat you.” They looked around the clearing then, as if expecting someone watching them. They started to shut the door but Yura was quick to get her foot in between. This was the only chance she had. Behind the person were a couple men, all wearing some kind of turban and wide robes. One of them was sharpening weapons on the table, some others slept. Some started to get curious about what was happening at the door. Definitely bandits, alright. How many different bandits could be in this jungle? There was a good chance Luffy was here after all. A direct approach might be best. 

“Please, I just want to find my friend. He was supposed to stay on the mountain with bandits-“ 

“Alright, if I see some bandits I’ll tell them you’re looking for them.” They were still trying to close the door on her. 

“Maybe your men have seen something, if I could just come in for a second-“ She pushed against the wood. The bandit pushed back immediately. 

“I told you to leave, girl. Which part didn’t you understand?” 

“I won’t go unless I found him.” Frustration was laced in Yura’s voice now. The bandit was outright angry. 

“Well, good luck then, he isn’t here. Why would a little boy be in the jungle anyways? He’s probably dead.” 

“I’ve found my way here as well, so-“ 

“Yeah, and I’m sure the way back will be just as easy.” 

“You’re acting really suspicious here honestly.” 

“Yu?” 

Yura and the bandit were so concentrated on their tug of war at the door that they hadn’t heard anyone approach. But Luffy’s voice pierced Yura’s brain right away and she turned on her heels immediately to see where it was coming from. He was standing at the clearing, little cuts and bruises littering his body but he seemed fine otherwise. His straw hat cast a shadow over his wide grin. 

“What are you doing here?” he asked. 

Yura looked back at the bandit with a scathing glance. To their credit, they didn’t even flinch under it but seemed to give up any façade they had been putting on only seconds ago. What was left was utter resignation and clear annoyance. 

Yura didn’t think twice about tackling him with a hug and Luffy didn’t seem to mind either. “I was going to find you, of course. Did you think I would stay back while you become strong?” 

He laughed, but it was almost drowned out by the taunting snicker of the boy next to him. Yura was so caught up in her happiness to see her friend that she hadn’t noticed him. She didn’t like the patronizing look he had in his eyes. 

“And who are you?” she demanded. Her bold tone seemed to annoy him, because his freckly face scrunched up in something close to disgust. 

“You are the one barging in so shouldn’t you introduce yourself to me?” 

The boy was about her age, maybe a bit older. He was about her height, only a few centimeters shorter. She drew herself up to her full height to emphasize this. “Well, I’d like to know who’s laughing about my friend and me before introducing myself.” 

Luffy, who seemed to be delighted that his two worlds seemed to come together by the meeting, pushed his little body in between them. He started tugging on the boy’s clothes. 

“That’s Yura, my first mate. Ace, I told you all about her! Didn’t you listen?” 

The boy named Ace just swatted his hands off with a scoff. “Of course I didn’t,” he said, “you talk the whole day.” 

While he wasn’t exactly wrong here, Yura still didn’t like the way he was treating Luffy. She turned to her friend grinning. “You talked about me, huh? I thought you were training all day, what were you up to?” He seemed eager to finally have someone who wanted to hear his stories. 

“Gramps left me here and then there was lunch – Ace brought this huge animal to eat, he’s very strong, and then we went into the jungle. So I guess I did train because there are a lot of scary things in the forest but Ace just beat them up. Except when this huge snake got me, but I got out of it by myself-“ Luffy puffed his chest out at that, “and I even climbed back up when Ace pushed me down the cliff by accident. Some wolves found me but I ran really fast so it’s fine.” 

Yura blinked at him. 

“Ace did what.” 

“Huh? He brought this big animal to eat for lunch, I-“ 

“No, the other one.” 

“He beat up the monsters?” 

“No.” She turned her head to the boy in question. “You pushed him off a cliff?” 

Ace looked at her blankly, then his mouth stretched into a wide, mean grin. “By accident,” he said in a way that suggested it hadn’t been an accident at all. She stepped closer to him, about to give him a piece of her mind. He was clearly looking forward to it because his grin never wavered but before they could truly start to argue the bandit’s voice interrupted them. 

“If you’re gonna fight all day do it somewhere else. Or better yet,” they looked at Yura, “you can go home. You’ve seen your friend. He’s alive. Good bye.” 

Yura looked past the fact that everyone here seemed to be rude for no reason and also wanted her gone. “Actually, I was going to ask if I could stay here as well.” 

“What? No. I don’t need another brat, the second one was already too much. Actually, the first one was too much already, the second one was just-” They launched right into an angry rant about the ungratefulness and sheer nerve Garp possessed to dump two kids at her doorstep. From what Yura could gather, the old man had brought Ace here too at some point and he apparently had been troublesome enough for the bandit to absolutely hate the idea of Luffy joining them. And now Yura asked to stay too. 

“Okay, yes,” Yura interrupted them, when the rant didn’t seem to stop, “I hate Garp just as much as you. But I promise I won’t be as annoying as these two.” 

The bandit scoffed. “Yeah, you’d say that. Listen, I took these two idiots in because I owe Garp but you? I don’t have any business with you.” 

“I can work.” 

“I don’t have work to give.” 

“I-“ 

“No.” 

And with that final word, the bandit did what they wanted to do since Yura set foot on the clearing – they slammed the door shut. Silence followed the loud noise. 

Eventually, it was Ace who made the first move by turning around to walk back into the jungle. “Whatever,” he said, like he was slamming another door shut. Luffy was immediately on his heels, a fact Yura noticed and didn’t like at all. She knew the look on his face. He’d had the same one when he met Shanks. But Shanks didn’t push him off a cliff. One more reason to stay. Yura threw a glance back at the door. She could worry about this later. Now, she needed to make sure her friend wasn’t murdered in cold blood. 

Luffy was busy telling her stories about the jungle. It was a lot considering he had only been here for a single day. Ace ignored them for the most part. But Luffy had been right, he was strong. Ace was carrying a long pipe to beat the animals to a pulp, a weapon that looked weirdly familiar to her. She couldn’t remember why though, so she let it pass for now. She was busy dodging attacks herself. Her only protection was a stick she had found along the way. It looked sturdy but wasn’t very sharp. At least she could keep the monsters at distance and hide in tree holes and bushes when something was approaching. But this cost time and when Luffy and she came out of cover, Ace was already gone. 

“He just left us behind,” Yura huffed, squinting into the woods. She wasn’t surprised. Neither was Luffy. 

“Yeah, I can never keep up with him. He’s so strong!” His eyes were gleaming again. She sighed. Leave it to Luffy to pick the biggest ass as his new role model. Well, the second biggest asshole, just behind top hat boy. Her fist involuntarily clenched at the thought. She’d been here a couple hours and already had a bone to pick with two boys living here. This place was just great. 

“Well, it’s no use trying to go after him, “ she decided, “let’s get back and try to convince the bandit to let me stay.” 

Luffy pouted. “Dadan is mean. She has to let you stay, though! I think she isn’t too bad, she just wants you to think she is.” So the bandit was a she, alright. Dadan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a bit shorter, but maybe I can upload more consistently this way? I'm in the end phase of my thesis and writing a stupid discussion all day doesn't leave me with much energy to write even more.  
> Anyway.  
> Ace.  
> What an ass he was.


	15. Paying Rent

Dadan was firm in her unwillingness to let Yura into the house. And as much as she hated bandits, Yura was equally firm in her wish to stay with Luffy. She tried to not think about these people as…well.. human beings worth of compassion, after all they had probably done horrible things to various people. But a part of Yura knew where Dadan was coming from. Making ends meet with Makino had been hard at times and it had been only the two of them. Making sure all these people here had a roof over their head and food on their plate couldn’t be easy for Dadan and letting random children add to that was objectively a bad idea. It was too bad that Yura couldn’t take the woman’s wishes into account. But she could make her see that she wouldn’t be a burden but instead would pay her back for the trouble of letting her stay. 

For now that meant camping out in front of the house, since she wasn’t invited in. This of course would have been infinitely easier if she still had the blanket that had been in her backpack. But there was no use dwelling on that. Luckily, the island was graced with mild climate this time of year, even at night. And she would survive the hard floor. Over the day, she would gather herbs and plants she knew were edible even without her book. After the second day of being there she had already understood that she and Ace weren’t too different in their strategy. Every evening, Ace came back with a giant chunk of meat - some animal he had hunted in the jungle and that was big enough to feed the whole house. She guessed this was how he paid his own debt to the bandits, even if most of the time he acted as if he hated it here. She could almost relate, but refused to. It also meant that these people were basically on an all-meat diet. Sure, there was some shriveled green Dadan tried to put together alongside it, but it wasn’t really what Yura was used to at home. So she started collecting the necessary ingredients, handing them over in a bucket she had found behind the house and washed five times to get the grime out. Dadan didn’t want to accept it but a couple hours after Yura hat set the bucket in front of the door, it was gone. Yura supposed this was the same way of playing hard to get that the bandit put on whenever she pretended she didn’t see Luffy sneaking food out of the window to her. This was also how Yura noticed Dadan actually used what Yura brought her. 

She put a bucket full of herbs in front of the door every single say from then on and Dadan kept waiting for her to leave before taking it inside. It was on day six when Yura lay on the hard ground in front of the house, settling for another night, when the window above her suddenly creaked open. She didn’t dare to move, staring into the dark, hoping that whoever this was wasn’t leaning out for a smoke. Yura saw some of the bandits do it sometimes and it usually ended in them flicking the filter out of the window. Some spat outside to get rid of the nasty taste. She didn’t really want someone spitting in her face but disturbing their me-time seemed awkward too. She instinctively covered her face when something was indeed thrown out at her, but whatever it was was fluffy and big. Yura opened her eyes, pulling what seemed like meters of fabric from her head. A blanket. There was a moment where she just stared at it in disbelief, so she was too distracted to dodge the pillow that followed soon after. The window snapped close with a thud and Yura thought she could hear Dadan’s disgruntled sympathy in the noise. 

The blanket was as good as a permission to stay – not in the house of course, but close enough. As things were, Yura was spending all her time on this goal, so she couldn’t go to the jungle with Luffy and Ace. Luffy had whined about that at first but he also didn’t like how stubborn Dadan was about not letting her stay, so any plan on changing that was fine by him. Ace grew more annoyed by the day but tried to cover it up with ignoring her presence all together. It was fine by her. Except that one day, Ace came back in the evening without Luffy on his heels. This in itself wasn’t unusual – Luffy never seemed to be able to follow the older boy for long, but Luffy also knew the jungle by now and mostly found his way back to the house before Ace. When he was still gone by sundown, Yura started to worry. 

She could have searched the jungle right away but she wasn’t familiar with it and had no idea where the boys usually went. Instead, she decided on the shorter and immediate plan. 

“You’re still hanging around here, girl? I told you I won’t let you in.” 

“Actually, I wanted to talk to Ace.” 

Dadan’s eyebrows went up. The bandit had noticed that the two children never interacted. She must have noticed Luffy missing and after some contemplation seemed to decide that she didn’t want any part in this. Dadan leaned out of the way, enough to give Yura a glimpse of the inside of the house and the freckled boy gnawing at some meat at the table. 

“Where is Luffy?” she called, loud enough for him to hear. He didn’t grace her with a response. So she tried again. “Hey, freckle face! I’m pretty sure you know where he is. Tell me.” 

The insult caught him off-guard. Yura guessed he had never heard her be anything but polite. But she had long given up any attempts of being nice to him. Ace’s nose scrunched up in distaste and he didn’t bother swallowing the bite he had just taken before finally answering. 

“’m not his babysitter,” he grumbled. 

“Well, he follows you around anyway so-“ 

“I told you I don’t know.” Ace was getting impatient with her. But he didn’t have any right. 

“You’re lying!” she shot back immediately. 

“I don’t care where he is.” 

“Okay that’s not a lie but it isn’t an answer either!” Dadan still stood in her way, otherwise Yura might have strangled the boy already. Maybe that’s why Ace stayed seated at the table – inside the house she could not enter. Coward, Yura thought. But no matter how much she asked, or what she said, Ace wasn’t spilling anything. So eventually, Yura set out into the forest anyway. 

She was grumbling to herself the whole time. It wasn’t fully dark yet and she made sure she had a spiky stick to do some damage if necessary. She desperately wanted to call out Luffy’s name, but it would put anything but him on her heels immediately. Yura tried to go for a systematic search, sticking to the paths that were slightly trampled down by frequent small feet. But the paths kept winding, the trees kept bending and everything looked exactly the same anyway. She thought she recognized a moss-covered trunk or a particular odd-shaped rock but she hadn’t been here often enough to be entirely sure. The worst thing was the gnawing anxiety in the pit of her stomach - not only for her own life but for her friend’s as well. After Ace literally threw Luffy down a cliff, she wasn’t sure what else the freckled boy would come up with to get rid of him for good. It was also possible that Luffy got himself into trouble after Ace dodged his attempt to follow him – but that still made the older boy responsible in her book. Worrying kept her too much in her own head, so by the time it was long dark she was entirely sure she was lost as well. Her legs were hurting from walking and climbing for hours and she kept stumbling over things now that she couldn’t see anything. But she couldn’t give up either and so far nothing too big had tried to eat her. 

The biggest thing was what appeared to be a giant beetle. It was easily the size of a fridge, with a pointy horn instead of a nose and sharp mouth-pieces like a grass hopper. Yura wasn’t sure if that thing only used it on plants, though. It made a loud clicking sound and stood up on its four hind legs when it saw her, waving the front two legs at her as a threat. Yura held up her hands defensively but refused to let go of her only weapon. 

“Hey, I don’t want to attack you,” she assured the beetle as if it could understand her. Maybe her calm tone helped? 

The beetle clicked again, its antennae twitching but it didn’t drop his aggressive behavior. The moonlight falling through the trees made its horn gleam brightly. She took a few steps back to further signal her peaceful intent. This however, seemed to give the impression that the animal had successfully intimidated a weaker opponent. Fueled with new confidence it lowered itself on all six legs, somewhat crouching. Yura knew what that meant even before the giant thing leaped at her. She couldn’t suppress the yelp as she jumped out of its way. Luckily, she was faster. By now she knew that staying alive in the jungle didn’t necessarily meant being stronger than every other thing, it was more about reading the opponent and predicting its next move. If you were caught by surprise, you were pretty much dead. The two of them repeated this dance a couple more times, before Yura managed to position herself directly in front of a tree. She thought she could see smugness in the beetles little eyes as it made another jump, effectively lodging its horn into the wood. It was clearly confused for a second, dazed from the impact but soon tried to paddle back. Even with six legs it didn’t seem to be working. Having some time to investigate the animal, Yura poked at its body – the back was covered in a hard shell, but the belly seemed to be soft and fleshy. The first time her stick came in contact with it the beetle squeaked loudly. It wasn’t a sound it had made before, but it sounded alarmed. 

“I found your weakness Mr. Beetle,” Yura informed and prodded at the belly a bit harder. The beetle tried to get free with even more vigor. “But I don’t have time for you and I don’t want to kill you. But if you attack me again-“ She poked even harder, earning another panicked squeal. Yura felt, she got the message across. So she just left. 

In the next hours she fought a dog-sized rat, hid from a tiger, dodged some flesh-eating plants and nearly fell into what looked a bottomless hole in the ground but was probably just a tunnel some animal had dug for a home. The last one was tricky, because she entertained the possibility that Luffy had fallen into it, but when she actually called his name inside, only the echo of her own voice answered her. Yura shrugged and walked on. She was tired and hungry – why didn’t she take any food with her?! Honestly, she hadn’t even thought about it and hadn’t imagined she would take this long. The thought that Luffy might be already dead crossed her mind briefly, but she shoved it away. Not helpful. The sky started to change its color again. Her throat felt dry from lack of water. And then, suddenly, she heard something through the noises of the early birds chirping. She heard crying. And she knew only one person who’s wailing was loud enough to pierce through the jungle. Excitement and hope bloomed in her chest and she couldn’t stop herself from being immensely relieved already, although crying shouldn’t put her at ease at all. She had to run for a surprisingly long time until she reached the source – by now she could clearly identify Luffy’s voice. The boy was tied to a tree. With a rope. At the bottom of it even, where every animal could reach him easily. The intensity of his crying seemed to have scared away even the biggest beasts, though. 

“Luffy!” She exclaimed happily, immediately trying to loosen the knot in the rope. He peered at her through teary eyes, but couldn’t stop himself from crying. Actually, it seemed to get even worse at the sight of her. Luffy tried to sob out her name, but it was barely intelligible. “It’s fine, we’re going to get you home,” she said, although to her home would mean back to Foosha and not back to a house full of bandits and a jerk who spent his time attempting to murder other children. Although, Yura was feeling a bit murderous towards that guy too by now. She let out a frustrated sigh. “I can’t get this stupid knot open, wait a second.” 

She got back up, looking around for something sharp to cut the rope. There was nothing in her immediate surroundings, so she circled the tree with growing distance. Luffy protested, clearly traumatized and not wanting to be left alone again. She kept talking to assure him she was still there. He had never been this freaked out before but she couldn’t blame him, he had been here for the whole night and who knows how long during the previous day. 

“You know, I’m not sure Dadan is letting me inside anytime soon. Maybe never,” she babbled, scanning the ground in the flimsy light of early dawn. “I mean sure, she gave me a blanket – not that she would ever admit that – but more than that? I don’t know.” 

She eventually found a sharp looking rock and went back sawing away at the rope. It was in good condition, which was surprising since everything in the jungle and the bandit’s house was shabby and worn down. Wistfully she thought about the rope she had been carrying in her backpack. This one here was probably stolen as well, just like hers. She shook her head, focusing back on the task at hand. “I actually think Dadan might be alright? For a bandit, I guess. What do you think, Lu?” 

Luffy was sniffling, pulling up the never ending stream of snot his body was producing. At least he had stopped full-on crying. “She’s nice,” he agreed. 

Yura grinned and looked up at him. “Nice?” 

“Not nice,” he corrected, thinking about her yelling and generally rough personality, “But not not nice.” 

“Yeah, that’s true.” 

“I don’t want to sleep in the house anymore.” 

She concentrated on the sawing. Yura had tried to avoid the topic, but if Luffy was bringing it up she guessed they had to talk about it. “Because of Ace?” she asked. 

Luffy nodded. “He called me a crybaby.” 

“Well, he’s mean and stupid,” she huffed, “but that’s actually not the part I’m mad about here.” 

“You’re mad?” 

“Of course I’m mad. I was worried about you.” 

He sniffled again. “I don’t want you to be mad because of me.” 

“It’s not because of you, Lu,” Yura looked up to him again, shaking out her hands since her fingers were cramping up from grabbing the rock tightly. It was very like Luffy to be upset about her being mad when he was the one being tied up here. She huffed again. “You’re already forgiving him for this, aren’t you? You’re too nice, Lu.” Only a thin piece of rope left in the way now. She went back to work. 

“’s is okay.” 

“No it is very not okay!” 

“You’re mad again.” 

Deep breaths. “If you aren’t, then I’ll have to be mad for the both of us. That’s my job I guess.” 

And with that, the rope was in two, falling to the ground limply. Luffy couldn’t get out and away from it fast enough, stretching and rubbing at sore spots and rope burns. 

“Let’s get back. I haven’t brought any food or drink, I’m sorry,” Yura said, standing up as well, “um… do you know the way back?” 

To her relief, Luffy nodded. She tried pulling him into a hug but to her surprise, he kept worming away. Yura frowned, trying to figure out what the problem was – Luffy usually wasn’t one to refuse a hug and she would have thought he would be as glad for one now as she was. He was evading eye contact. His face as red as a tomato. He was.. embarrassed? 

“What’s wrong?” she asked. 

He stuttered and stumbled over words, none of which Yura caught exactly. She took a step towards him and he stumbled back. 

“Lu?” She repeated, “It’s fine, whatever it is, we can figure it out. Did he do something?” She couldn’t help her voice growing alarmed at that thought. Luffy shook his head. But was he telling the truth or did he want to protect Ace because of this completely nonsensical admiration he had for the older boy? Luffy must have seen that she was skeptical, because the redness of his cheeks deepened another hue. 

“Um, n-no he didn’t do anything. I’m just- ah.. I’m dirty?” It came out more as a question, his lips drawn to a pout, eyes trained on the ground. 

“Oh. That’s fine,” she answered, not expecting this at all. She was stepping forward, not for another hug, but just to ruffle his hair instead. He really was grimy, and no wonder given his situation. He hadn’t bathed for far too long, he smelled of intense sweaty fear. But when she stepped closer she noticed another smell. And she realized that if he had been tied to that tree for fifteen hours give or take, then he hadn’t been able to do anything at all. He hadn’t been able to go to the toilet. “Oh,” she repeated dumbly. And Luffy drew his neck in between his shoulders. Now both of them were embarrassed, but for Yura the anger was back in an instant as well. “Let’s get you back to the house.” 

Luckily, Luffy hadn’t been lying. He seemed to know the way quite well, desperate to get back. Just before they arrived, one of the bandits crossed their path. He seemed startled when he saw them. 

“I found them!” He yelled over his shoulder. There were loud voices responding, carrying his message further back. He turned back to the children. “Dadan sent some of us to come looking for you kids.” 

Yura, still refusing to be on friendly terms with bandits by principle, crossed her arms and continued walking. Luffy was on her heels, the bandit fell into step next to her. “How kind of her,” she said. 

The bandit chuckled. “Well, kind is not the right word, I guess, she said something about the Marine skinning her alive if something happened to his brat.” 

“That makes more sense,” she agreed. 

The way back was a short one from there and when they stepped on the clearing, Dadan already waited outside. Behind her, every window was full of curious faces. And standing next to her, with visible disinterest, was Ace. 

“Lu, go clean up.” Yura’s voice was cold, her anger bubbling underneath. Luffy looked up to her uneasily, sensing an escalation so he didn’t want to leave. Seeing his hesitation, she briefly threw him a glance. “Go! I’m sure Dadan has water and something to eat as well.” She looked at the woman in question. Dadan seized her for a moment, then huffed and motioned for Luffy to come with her as she went back inside. 

“Come on, brat,” she said. It was more of an order and Luffy, starved and thirsty as he was, finally followed her inside. The men were still watching from the windows. 

Yura made sure the door was closed before marching over to Ace. He was scowling, his arms crossed in defiance. 

“I thought the animals got him already. I was pretty sure-“ 

Whatever he wanted to say was cut off as Yura barreled into him, throwing him to the ground. The wind was clearly knocked out of his lungs. Ace hadn’t been expecting this, so he needed a second to bring his arms up to protect himself and Yura had already seized that brief hesitation to straddle him and punch him in the face. 

“You stupid fucking idiot,” she screamed at him and her fists were raining down wherever they could reach, “you almost killed him!” 

“That was the point!” Ace grind out through bared teeth, as if this was a good explanation. 

“You left him to die,” she seethed, “you wanted to kill a seven-year-old! What did he ever do to you? Who do you think you are? How many times did you try to pull some shit with him, huh? How sick are you?!” 

Ace was pretty good at blocking most of the damage – there wasn’t much he could do otherwise anyway. Still, she landed some pretty good hits and that really was all she wanted. To hurt him. But she was exhausted and her tempo slowed fast. And Ace was a much more experienced fighter. As soon as he saw his chance, he threw her off, reversing their positions. She tried to claw at him, but he grabbed her wrists. 

“Why do even care? I mean really, how dumb are you? You followed him all the way here, into a house of fucking bandits and I’m already surprised you didn’t die on the way here and only managed to get robbed. And only so you can change his diapers every five minutes!” 

At his words, Yura stopped short. “How do you know I was robbed on the way here?” 

He seemed taken aback by that. Ace stared at her for a second. “Well, you must have brought something, right? Even you wouldn’t be dumb enough to come here without anything. Don’t change the topic!” 

“The topic? You mean the topic of what a sick monster you are?” He recoiled at her words, which was more of a reaction than she had gotten from any punch she had thrown. And Yura had the decency to feel guilty at how good that felt. But not enough decency not to use it to attack him even more. Still lying on her back, she continued. “That’s right! You’re worse than any of the bandits – the people you hate so much although they keep you around for some reason! But you hate everyone anyway, right? Do you think you’re tough and cool? You’re just sad. You laugh about Luffy and me, about why I care so much for him. He’s my friend, my family. He’s a good kid, better than you’ll ever be. And I’d take him and leave if it meant getting away from you, but for some reason he has decided to like you! But you don’t care, right? Maybe you didn’t notice because no one else ever wants you around!” 

She was out of breath from talking so quickly and his weight didn’t allow much air in her lungs anyway. Ace’s teeth were clenched in anger, his hands, still grabbing her wrists, were trembling slightly. He was about to say something, but then decided against it. Instead, he let go of one of her arms to draw back his own. Yura let her head fall back to the floor, bracing herself for his punch. But before he could even try anything, Dadan’s voice came from inside the house. 

“That’s enough, you two!” she bellowed, “break it up!” 

For some reason, Ace listened. He lowered his fist, slightly out of breath himself. 

“Get off me,” she hissed and pushed him off. Now that he didn’t put up a fight, it was easy. Yura stood up, got one last look at his face and the swelling bruise on his cheekbone, and marched right into the house. “I’m sleeping inside with Luffy,” she declared and no-one complained.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I mean this was normalized in the original OP story but Ace lowkey tried to kill a kid bc it was annoying??? hello???


	16. Brute Force

A soon as she set foot in the house, Yura picked up a knife in the kitchen, sliding it through the loopholes of her pants. She wouldn’t let go of it any time soon. Her first night in the house was full of the expected awkwardness that ensued when three stubborn children had to share a room, one of them had previously tried to murder another and then got beaten and his whole existence insulted by the third one. That was to say, it could have been worse. 

Despite all that had happened, or maybe even because of it, Luffy fell asleep within seconds. Yura had purposefully made her bed in between the two boys – acting as a shield between Luffy and any harm that could potentially come to him at night. The room was small, definitely a former storage room under the roof, but still Ace managed to put considerable distance between himself and her. Neither of the older children was willing to turn their back on the other, so Yura and Ace were left staring at each other angrily for the better part of the night. It left them both tired and exhausted but admitting to it with so much of a yawn would be a defeat. 

Luckily for both of them, Ace always left early to do whatever it was he was doing all day in the forest. Wallowing in her sleep deprived state was a lot easier when he was gone, but Yura didn’t have time to go for a nap. Now that she was living in the house as well, she needed to pull her weight accordingly and a bucket full of herbs wouldn’t do anymore. It wasn’t hard to find further things to do. Her time at the bar had taught her a lot of helpful life skills – nothing close to wizardry but she could fix the leaking pipe in the bathroom or nail a hole in the wall shut. Of course, Dadan never commented on it and neither did any of the men. Yura didn’t expect them to. The rough tone in the house was something she had gotten used to quickly, even if she missed the warm and cheery Makino even more because of it. But this harsh environment was nothing compared to a particular force of nature she had pretty much forgotten about by now. But realization came quickly, the sound of gigantic steps drilled in her mind deep enough to awaken a primal fear in her when she heard them again. 

Garp was coming back. 

She had half the mind to be glad the boys were out in the jungle, out of the Marine’s reach for now. The other part of her brain focused on the fact that she shouldn’t be here. Did he know she followed Luffy? Garp had surely visited Makino before coming up here, hadn’t he? Did Makino tell on her? What other excuse could she have possibly delivered for Yura’s absence in the bar? 

Yura had been in the middle of mopping the floor in the main room but had frozen mid-swipe when she noticed the water in the bucket shudder with vibrations. Like a deer caught in the headlights she stared in the direction of the door. Across the room, Dadan had stopped her work too – she was sharpening long wooden sticks for traps to lay around the house, but Yura didn’t know if they were meant for animals or potential enemies to fall into. Now, the woman threw a look at her that was in equal part question and understanding. But no laugh grazed the woman’s face at her fear. Dadan inhaled a thick puff of the cigarette in the corner of her mouth but turned back to the carving in her lap. 

“Go hide upstairs,” she said. She didn’t raise her voice at all. In fact, it was more of a grumble than an order but Yura was quick to follow. 

Her shaky hand clung to the rail as she ran up the wooden steps to her shared room, but she stopped when she reached the top. It was more like a trapdoor, so when she lay flat on her stomach it gave her good protection while she could see a good part of the main room area. She didn’t even try to battle her curiosity. 

The front door flew open but barely any light made it past the giant body in front of the opening. Garp ducked his head with practiced ease, coming in without so much of a greeting. 

Yura thought about how long it had taken her to make it over the threshold of this house, so to see him enter so easily made her eyebrows draw together. The men lounging around jumped up, running to avoid the upcoming situation. Garp looked around with a judgmental gaze, no doubt noticing the dust on the shelves, the cracked tiles in the kitchen corner, and the splintered cracks of the wall in the corner. 

“I see not much has changed here,” he boomed, but it was less malice in it than Yura would have expected. It was no doubt meant as an insult but it looked more like a grin as he bared his teeth in the direction of the leading woman. Dadan was still concentrating on the wooden stick in her hands, the knife she held sharpening the end further and further. If Yura hadn’t known what she intended to use it for, she would have thought the stick was being prepared for Garp’s eye. 

“What do you want?” she grumbled. 

“What do you think, old hag? I’m here to see my grandson, of course.” 

There really was no way Makino could have avoided Yura developing a foul mouth. Every single person around them insulted each other like it was nothing. No matter how honorable and dutiful they tried to present themselves. Dadan didn’t bat an eyelash at it. 

“Given that it’s only been a couple weeks,” she said, “he probably looks just like he did when you dumped him here.” 

Garp laughed. “So the brat is still alive at least. I knew he wouldn’t bite it so quickly.” 

“I don’t know where you got that faith from. The boy attracts trouble like no one else.” 

“Ah, but I was correct, wasn’t I? Plus, the other one is with him as well.” He rubbed his short beard in thought. When Garp had brought Yura to the island, his hair had been a dark and glossy black. By now, a few strands of grey started sprinkling it. “Ace will drag him through until Luffy is strong enough himself.” 

It would have been a great plan. Garp had clearly thought this through, only he hadn’t because there was one crucial detail that made the whole thing collapse like a house of cards, just like the last big plan regarding Luffy he had so gloriously laid out. Dadan finally put down her work to look at the man incredulously. 

“That’s what you thought would happen? That you dump your rubber boy here – thanks for not warning me about that one by the way, I nearly got a heart attack the first time I saw his fucking devil powers – and you think Ace is gonna cuddle up and play babysitter like the sunshine he is?” 

He had the decency to look sheepish and paced through the room for a moment to avoid looking at Dadan. Yura mentally applauded the woman. But now he was out of Yura’s field of vision. It was unsettling to not be able to see him. “Well, not exactly like that-“ she heard his voice from somewhere, but Dadan interrupted. 

“Yeah, tough luck, asshole. I couldn’t count the amount of times Ace tried to kill your kid even if I wanted to.” In that second, Dadan must have realized how heated her voice had gotten. She closed her mouth for a moment, thinking about the strategy she wanted to go for here. God forbid someone noticed she cared! “Dumping one boy on my door step, fine. For all the trouble he is, that’s on me for agreeing to take him in. But this?” She threw out her wrist in a vague gesture that included her whole situation entirely. “Should have known you’re full of crap when you said there won’t be any problems.” 

He laughed again, this loud and booming noise. “That’s exactly right,” he agreed. 

“I’m not a fucking nursery, Garp!” The woman complained. 

“Eh, it’s not like you have to do much. They’re mostly out in the woods anyway, right? I promise not to bring you a third one, if it helps you sleep at night.” 

Yura automatically drew in her head guiltily and could see that Dadan had flinched slightly as well. There was a pause - Garp had definitely seen it too. 

“What’s this,” he laughed, “did I hit something vulnerable there?” His voice wandered through the room, still Yura couldn’t see him. “Is this the real problem? You got even more brats around?” He chuckled, “That’s not on me - maybe learn to lock your doors better. Or your heart, when you’re at it.” 

“Shut up,” Dadan said with the venom of someone who knew that it was indeed Garp’s fault Yura was here but couldn’t say so out loud. Yura appreciated greatly that the woman didn’t just rat her out. When Garp’s voice returned, it was considerably closer. 

“How did you even manage to catch a third brat? And is he any good? I don’t want my boys to be held back by some weakling from that shithole Terminal.” 

Yura relaxed at the mention of the male pronoun. Garp thought the third kid was a boy, because of course he did. Which meant he truly didn’t know she was here. She exhaled in relief but quickly slapped her hands in front of her mouth when she realized she made a sound. But Garp went on talking when Dadan didn’t answer immediately. 

“Forget it, I’ll just see for myself. It pains me to admit I didn’t realize right away-” 

And suddenly his giant hand broke through the opening in the trapdoor. Yura screeched in surprise, throwing herself out of the way, but his fist closed around her leg. It was the same iron grip she had never been able to escape. She tried anyways, clawing at everything around her but the only thing her fingers reached were the splintery floor boards. Within milliseconds her dangling form was eye to eye with the Marine. He was too busy looking at Dadan triumphantly to truly regard his catch. “With so many rats hiding in this house, this one was hard to make out-“ 

And that was the exact moment he looked at the kid he had caught for the first time. Yura met his gaze head on, but was honestly not prepared for the absolute shock and terror that lit up the man’s face. 

“You!” he boomed, swaying her dangerously through the air. His eyes bulged out of his sockets and Yura would have found it hilarious if she wasn’t fearing for her life right now. 

“What are you doing here?!” 

“What do you think, asshole?” Yura screamed back, “I told you I won’t leave Luffy alone!” 

“You fucking brat, you weren’t supposed to be here!” 

“Well, I already am so you can go choke!” 

“You don’t have any idea-“ 

“That’s enough!” This last shout came from Dadan, who had summoned all the authority she could pack in her voice. Giving that she was leading a bunch of bandits and criminals for years now, it was a sight to behold. Even Garp stopped in his tracks, ripped out of whatever fury he had spiraled into at the sight of the little girl. His face was still crumpled, emotion bubbling beneath the surface. Dadan pointed at him. 

“As much as I’d love to be rid of a nuisance here, you’re close to crushing the reason your kid has survived so far.” 

Garp looked at Yura, then back at Dadan but didn’t let her go. “You don’t know what you’re talking about. She’s- …she-“ 

“Is a little girl. Calm your ass.” 

He exhaled, throwing another glance, as if to confirm that Dadan was speaking the truth. Upon verifying that she indeed was just a little girl, he simply opened his fist to drop her to the ground. His mood swung suddenly and it changed into something Yura had never seen before. It caused her stomach to sink in a way that told her that something was very, very wrong. His eyes were cast in shadow when he spoke again. 

“Get lost, before I change my mind”,” he murmured. Yura rubbed the place on her hip she had fallen on and looked up to the giant. She was still trying to figure out what was going on, so she didn’t react immediately. If she didn’t know better, she’d think Garp was avoiding her eyes. “I need to talk to you, Dadan.” he clarified, ignoring Yura. The woman in question crossed her arms. “You already are.” 

“For chist’s sake, woman!” he shouted again, with a hint of desperation and an odd seriousness that seemed entirely misplaced in this situation. And before anyone could do something, he grabbed Yura by the collar again, dragging her to the door. And with Dadan’s complains as a background noise, he drew back the arm Yura was dangling from and used his giant proportions and bulk of muscles to throw her far above the treeline, into the midst of the jungle. 

The landing was as smooth as she could expect. Branches and leafs weakened her descend from the sky a bit but the sound of her body hitting the floor was still unpleasant and worrying. The air was knocked out of her lungs immediately, so it took her a second to gather her thoughts and assess the damage. Most of her body was in dull pain. But least she could feel her limbs. That meant they were still attached. Her head was throbbing at the back, where it had made contact with the ground. And now that she knew she survived, suddenly, a sharp stinging pain reached her brain, rooting in her right thigh. Yura was almost too scared to look and when she did, she winced. It was probably a good thing that she still had the knife from the kitchen. The bad thing was the way said knife was stuck in her flesh. Another good thing was that its attachment to the belt loop had prevented it from going in deep. Another bad thing was all the dirt caking to the blood where it has still pierced through the skin. 

Yura sighed, slowly lowering herself back to the ground. She should probably get moving but the floor was much too comfortable and she wasn’t ready to tackle the next few hours of her life quite yet. She made a mental note about not carrying unsheathed blades on her body in the future, then another one to finally get decent weapons. Ace had his pipe-thing, the bandits had swords and revolvers. None of these things sounded particularly great to her, but maybe that was just the prospect of violence that came with carrying a weapon at all. ‘Alright,’ she thought after putting off the inevitable had lost its fun, ‘time to go. Step one: remove the knife.’ It went surprisingly well. The wound really wasn’t that deep and she didn’t think she would bleed out because of it either. But just to be safe, step two involved cutting a stripe of fabric off the bottom of her shirt to tie it tightly around her thigh. Good thing she still wore massively oversized shirts. Step three: Where was she? 

A lesson she learned when being lost in the jungle was that if you truly didn’t know where you are, just pick a direction and stick to it. Her chances were even better because she knew that it was early afternoon so the sun should be south-ish. Dadan had a lot of maps in the house and as a result, Yura had a basic understanding of this part of the island and in which direction Garp had probably thrown her. 

…Garp. 

She paused in her thoughts. His behavior had been odd – alarming even. Her best shot of getting to know what the hell he had been on about was probably asking Dadan about it when she was back. The woman wasn’t the softest shell to crack but they both shared the same bad feelings towards the Marine, which could be the one advantage that got Yura what she wanted out of the woman. Maybe Dadan would tell her, just to spite Garp because he had tried to be secretive? 

She had been walking in thought for a while, forming a chain of arguments to accomplish her goal later. Yura should have known better, really, because it was never a good idea to be caught in your own head here. And before she knew it, her legs were pulled out under her. 

Reunited with the ground again, she quickly tried to lift her head enough to make out what had grabbed her and was currently dragging her along. The scaly thick rope told her it was a snake, which was confirmed when Yura was pulled through some bushes and suddenly upwards – eyes landing on the head of the beast up in the tree branches. How long was this thing?? 

Realizing that the longer she waited the more distance from the ground she was getting, Yura flexed her middle to grab her own ankle and the part of the snake tightly wound around it. Her injured thigh protested fiercely but she gritted her teeth and pulled herself up further. The stab to the animal’s tail was well placed, her own blood still sticking to her blade mixing with the snake’s. But it didn’t let go. Instead, it hissed angrily, wrapping itself around more of her body. It clearly tried to immobilize her arm as well, but Yura was winding her wrist out of the grip every time, sinking the blade in between the scales again and again. She focused on the part closest to her, trying to deepen the same wound further and despite the fact that the knife was tiny compared to the snake’s body, it started to uncover more and more flesh. By now, the snake had pulled her up to its level, his head coming dangerously close. As it bared its shiny teeth, Yura remembered reading that constrictors like that didn’t have venomous teeth. A part of her felt better already, the other part didn’t want to count on that bit of information too much. She didn’t plan to find out either way. The teeth were almost as long as her forearm – not particularly surprising in this jungle but still an unsettling discovery. The snake drew its head back in preparation of an attack. Yura saw her chance and forced herself to wait for the right moment. And as the head snapped forward with a gaping mouth, she sunk her knife right through the roof of it, lodging it into the creature’s skull. It made a horrible crunching sound that sent a shiver down her spine. And for the third time in an embarrassingly short time span, Yura landed on the jungle floor, dragging the dead snake with her. 

Luckily, the body caught most of the impact. It took far longer than her patience allowed to claw herself out of the layers and layers of scales around her and when she did, she huffed in annoyance and pride. She pulled the knife out of the skull. Its tip had broken off when coming in contact with bone. ‘Oh well,’ Yura thought, ‘a broken knife was still better than nothing.’ She contemplated cutting some meat off for dinner, but without a bag or anything else to store it, it was – quite literally – a dead weight to her. 

She wiped her dirty hands on her torn shirt, pausing to regard the mess. Blood and grime clung to her and she wasn’t sure if this would keep other predators away or if the smell alone would attract them even more. 

“Time to find out,” she muttered and picked a direction to limp back home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I rewrote this chapter three times, ugh! But I'm also done with the transition chapters so it's gonna be rea angsty real soon


	17. From Bad to Worse

A mosquito landed on her skin – managing to find one of the few spots untouched by his predecessors. It didn’t wait long to pierce the surface, greedily sucking blood. But just like the others before, it was finally squished, leaving only a smudge of red and broken wings and legs behind. 

Yura swiped over the spot in annoyance again. “Stupid fucking mosquitos,” she muttered, “Stupid fucking jungle”. 

There were two times a year when insects, especially these blood sucking demons, roamed the island. Part of the island was flooded once in spring, and then again in early autumn, both times in which it was still warm enough for mosquitos to breed and grow in the wet green. The fact that she was practically eaten by hundreds of them told Yura that the dykes in the meadows behind the village must be completely drowned by now. The autumn flood wasn’t even the fun one – no tadpoles, too much rain and the few animals living nearby were already collecting food for winter, digging through the ground in the process and turning the soft and pretty green of the dry part of the meadow into dirty brown swamp land. Luffy loved it much more than she did, building castles in the mud, rolling through the sludge in mischievous glee. She wasn’t particularly fond of mud in her underwear, or of the hours of trying to get it out of her hair and ears. Luckily, the swampiness was decidedly less up here in the mountains, at least for now. There were thick grey clouds hanging above the trees, though. Yura hoped she would be back at the house when it started raining eventually. 

Once again she was making her path through the plants, once again disoriented, once again alone. She wouldn’t call it a bad habit since at least this time it wasn’t her fault but Garp’s. Eventually, she found herself face to face with a giant mossy stone wall and recognized it as the surface of a particular rock formation she had seen in the distance fairly often, but had never managed to get even remotely close to. Luffy and she would see it looming during their daily attempts to keep up with Ace. Which, of course, still never worked. He had lived here for far longer than they had, knew how to navigate his way through the labyrinth of trees, knew which stones were loose and which branches too weak to carry him at one single glance. And even though Luffy was getting remarkably good at fending for himself (Yura proudly registered her own progress but didn’t spent nearly enough time fighting for her life for it to be anywhere close to her friend’s learning curve), Ace was still outshining both of them. Oftentimes, Yura found that her steps further into the green were mostly fueled by spite towards the older kid – a wish to prove him wrong in his bad opinion about them and by extent to justify her living in this godforsaken environment. The other part of her motivation was of course rooted in Luffy, who by now had an equal amount of spite in him but was also unwavering in his sheer adoration of Ace. Yura had begun to accept this as a constant she couldn’t throw, no matter how much she complained about the freckled prick. 

“Why do you hate him so much,” Luffy had once said, after they’d lost Ace in the woods for what felt like the hundredth time. 

Yura had sighed heavily, tormented by the honest confusion in Luffy’s voice while wallowing in her anger towards Ace. “Ah, what’s not to hate?” 

Of course, her friend still hadn’t been able to recognize a rhetorical question for what it was and had immediately counted all the great things he had discovered about Ace so far. Yura had been impressed he could focus on it that much, given that he had been fiercely concentrating on his climb towards a big orange fruit hanging up in a tree. It was amazing he 

hadn’t learned anything from previous encounters with strange fruit. Yura had let him go for it anyway – she had already recognized it as a harmless but bitter one. Maybe he would learn his lesson eventually if he made enough bad experiences? 

“- and he’s strong and quick and he is never ever scared of Dadan! Like the other day, when she was shouting at him for not cleaning the table after dinner and he didn’t even flinch. Oh, and he knows Gramps and – get this! – when I told him how horrible he is, Ace just shrugged and said he wasn’t afraid of him either! And he really wasn’t! He’s just fearless, it’s so cool.” 

Luffy had made his way up the tree, trying to reach the fruit that was dangling maybe two branches over. Maybe a meter had separated him from it and he had made stubborn grabby hands at it as if the distance would miraculously shrink by pure willpower alone. 

“If he’s really not afraid of Garp,” Yura had said, seriously doubting it, “that makes him stupid, not fearless.” She had craned her neck, watching her friend struggle, her arms crossed. 

Eventually, Luffy had seemed to have a revelation, a metaphorical lightbulb glowing over his head. He’d then concentrated even more for a moment. His face had been scrunched up and his cheeks had turned a bright red. And then he had swung his arm, as if dealing a punch and his arm had extended. He’d grabbed the fruit and screamed in joy as he’d caught it. But he’d been so caught up in his own surprise that he had forgotten to hold on tight to the tree. He’d slipped. And then he’d fallen, taking branches and leaves with him. Yura’s own excitement of seeing him actually – finally! - control his rubber powers with success had quickly turned into dread. She had run to catch him, which had only resulted in them ending in a pile of pain on the forest floor. Yura had blown the hair out of her face while Luffy had snickered at their clumsiness. Eventually, she had shoved him off, trying not to grin as well. She still had her suspicions that blunt force hurt him less than her, that his devil powers protected him against this particular pain. She’d rubbed her side where his elbow had dug in but made no effort to get up. His straw hat had landed close to them and she had handed it back to him without thinking. In the end, they’d stayed there on the ground for God knew how long. Luffy had quickly found the fruit a couple meters away, scrambling to get it, and returning to her side presenting his treasure. Yura had grinned in honest then. 

“This is great, Lu,” she’d said, “I’m proud of you.” 

And he had beamed at her like she had told him she knew where the One Piece was. And that smile - him so obviously being proud of making her proud - had shot warmth through her body and she had felt her heart clenching. There really was no way she would ever abandon him. Yura had realized in this moment that she couldn’t imagine a life he wasn’t part of, not a single experience he didn’t share, and as happy as that thought made her, she also felt an overwhelming fear of losing him – to any danger that awaited him on his pirate journey, to a beast in this jungle, to a boy he was admiring even though the boy wanted him gone. And as if reading her mind, Luffy’s smile had slipped from his face and he had looked down at the fruit in his lap. 

“I’ll get even better at my power,” he’d mumbled, “so you won’t have to worry about me all the time.” 

She had gotten up on her elbows then to get a better look at him. “I don’t worry about you because you aren’t strong enough,” she’d said, even though she did and she also feared that she wasn’t strong enough either. “I worry about you because we’re friends. Friends worry about each other.” 

But Luffy didn’t seem to hear her. “I’ll get stronger and then it will be the other way around and I’ll protect you.” 

“You don’t have to repay me,” she’d answered, “It’s not like you owe me.” 

“But I do! I can’t do anything right, and if something happens to you, I won’t be able to do anything. Like back in the village, like back with Shanks and-“ He had ranted. And she had been surprised that he was thinking so much about that. And then she had been ashamed of assuming he wasn’t. 

“Do you even like it here?” Luffy had mumbled at last after Yura hadn’t known what to say to his worries. She had been taken aback by the question. 

“On the island?” 

“On the mountain. You know what I mean.” Luffy had thrown some grass at her as he said it, pouting at her obvious intention to misunderstand him on purpose. 

“Oh.” She hadn’t known how to answer. 

“Because you can go back to the village, you know? You don’t have to stay because of me.” 

“Are you trying to get rid of me?” 

“Shut up, that’s not it!” He had been genuinely upset at her even suggesting that. 

“I know, I know. But seriously: I hate to say it but Garp was right. We wouldn’t have gotten strong there and we already made so much progress here. I need to be strong too.” 

One corner of Luffy’s mouth had lifted at that. “As my first mate,” he’d said. 

“That’s right, Captain,” she’d grinned back. 

There had been a moment of silence then, full of contentment and visions of their future adventures. 

“Do you think Ace will join my crew?” 

She’d groaned. “Ugh, Lu!” 

“Do you?! I haven’t asked him yet, but I think he might.” 

“Why would he? He doesn’t even like you.” 

“He does! He’s just bad at showing it.” 

She had laughed at that – a short, insincere sound. Luffy kicked her leg slightly in frustration. 

“He does!” he repeated, “he hasn’t tried to kill me in weeks!” 

“If that isn’t true love, I don’t know what is.” 

“You just hate him, so you can’t see it.” 

Yura sat up. “I hate him?! Me? He hates me just as much! I didn’t start this, he did!” 

“Because he tied me to that tree.” 

“Because he tried to kill you, yes!” 

“You don’t know that.” 

“You just said it yourself!” 

“Okay, so you’re angry ‘cause he tried to kill me?” 

“Yes!” 

“But he doesn’t try to kill me anymore.” 

“Not actively at least.” 

“See? So you can’t be angry anymore.” 

Luffy had looked at her then with total smugness. As if he had solved a mathematical problem. As if she’d had no other choice than to accept his flawless logic. Yura stared at him. 

“Th- that is not how it works!” 

Luffy had been shocked. “Yes it is!” 

“You-! He-! I won’t just-“ To her horror she had found herself stuttering, not because she was wrong but because she hadn’t been able to understand how he could forgive so easily and expect her to do the same. And again, it had seemed as if it was on her to hold his grudges for him, carrying them around because someone had to and he refused to. She had looked at the scar under Luffy’s left eye then, had reminded herself of his now rubbery skin – both things she hadn’t forgiven Shanks for, no matter how much he’d done for them – and had added Ace’s attempts to kill her friend to the ever-growing list of things Luffy had already happily forgotten about but that she would take to the grave with her. 

“I don’t like you not getting along. You and Ace are my friends, you need to like each other,” Luffy had pouted. He had a talent for puppy dog eyes. Yura’d sighed again. 

“Alright, I’ll try to hate him less. That’s all you get.” 

For some reason, he had been happy with that and didn’t argue further. Yura thought about this now as she was staring at the rock right in front of her. Garp had thrown her much deeper into the jungle than she had ever been able to go by herself. Maybe deeper than she would be able to go in the near future. She should go back to the house, would probably run into Luffy on the way there. Or she could walk on. This was an opportunity to see where Ace was going all the time. 

If she was being honest, she knew what she was going to do anyway. Her feet moved even as she was still arguing with herself. 

This part of the jungle was somehow darker. Maybe the plants were denser, maybe their green just deeper. It really felt as if she was somewhere else all together. The fact that the area around the house had become familiar enough to notice the change threw her off a bit. It was maybe half an hour before she found the footsteps. Small prints in the mud, definitely not an adult. Yura crouched down for a moment to have a closer look. She grinned triumphantly. Maybe the wet climate had its positive sides after all. But there, a short distance away, were more footprints. These were equally small and shallow, as if the shoes hadn’t been carrying much weight. She could make out a heel in the print – definitely not Ace then, his shoes were completely flat, like the first set of prints suggested. It weren’t Luffy’s flip flops either. 

She followed the trail. 

It zig-zagged through the woods, made her climb over fallen tree trunks just to disappear momentarily afterwards. She found it again every time, but it wasn’t easy. Walking alongside yet another abrupt loop she thought that either the two children had been extremely confused or tried to get rid of any followers. Knowing Ace, the latter was probably it. And the question was: why. Trying to shake Luffy and herself off was one thing. But Ace knew the two of them never made it this far into the jungle, so if he didn’t have a sudden newfound confidence in their abilities – and she seriously doubted that – what was so important that no one could find it? 

It was then that she heard the voices. 

She was still too far away to understand the words but their tone suggested an argument. There was no real heat in it, though, so it sounded more like bickering. Yura crouched down, trying to get as much cover from the bushes around her as she could without making much noise. When her foot got caught in a protruding root with a thump and a stumble, she cursed herself internally. She really needed to get better at the sneaking around business. Luckily, the people she was trying to eavesdrop on where too busy convincing each other of whatever it was they were discussing than to pay attention to her surroundings. Finally, Yura had managed to get close enough to hear what was going on properly. One of the voices was definitely Ace, and she really didn’t know if she was happy about that or not. There was a huge tree right in front of her, but she would be in direct sight if she tried to go around it. So for now, she used it as cover to understand what this was about. 

“I mean, it’s the only way,” the voice that wasn’t Ace said. It sounded young too, another boy then? Something about the voice seemed familiar but Yura couldn’t place it. 

Ace huffed and Yura could imagine him crossing his arms in defiance, like he always did when talking to anyone. “I wouldn’t say the only way-“ 

“Really, what’s the alternative then?” A small pause followed. 

“Maybe we can just drag him back-“ 

“Come on, he found his way here once, he’ll do it again. We-“ 

“-can’t risk it. I know. Although we hit him around the head often enough, maybe he won’t remember anything.” There was a thudding noise, as if one of the boys hit something soft. 

Then a yelp. Yura frowned. Who were they talking about? Her first thought was Luffy, obviously, and it was a gut wrenching one. As long as they didn’t drop a name she couldn’t be sure, though, and the only other way to confirm was to get out of her cover and get a look – but that would end the conversation and any information she might get out of it if she waited. 

Yura made herself relax a bit into the wood of the tree. 

The other boy was talking again. “Since when are you so soft anyway?” he taunted, and there was real annoyance behind it. “I thought you were glad if he died.” 

“I am. But the old hag and the brat would flip their shit. That’s annoying too.” 

“Well, if I have to choose between losing the treasure and mildly inconveniencing you I think I know what I’ll pick.” 

“Using big words doesn’t make your point better, you just sound like a dickhead.” 

“’Inconveniencing’ or ‘treasure’?” You could hear the grin in not-Ace’s words. Another dull whacking sound. Followed by a snort. 

“Fuck off, I’m not an idiot,” Ace snapped. 

The other boy sighed audibly. In the silence of the two boys thinking, Yura could hear something dragging over the floor. Someone was sniffling quietly. 

“Alright, we could kick him down the cliff in the east. Even if he survives he won’t find his way back.” 

“Nah, I did that once. The fucker came back the same day.” 

“Seriously? Gosh, that brat.” 

“We could bring him to the Terminal. He won’t find his way out, probably die there too.” 

“Yeah, perfect, he’ll tell everyone and their grandma about the treasure there. You’re a genius.” Whack. And another one. A couple curses spat at each other. Yura almost used this chance to get a peek at the scene, but before she could move, the two boys calmed again. 

“Alright. I don’t want to deal with that anymore. Let’s just kill him.” it was Ace’s voice saying that and Yura immediately had a lump in her throat. She gripped the knife in her hand tighter and checked the makeshift bandage around her thigh. If it was really Luffy, she had to intervene now. Her hand trembled. Ace was much stronger than her. And there were two of them. There was no way she could win but she had to do something. She would peek around the tree, and if it was Luffy, she’d just grab him and run. 

The other boy laughed. “Alright then.” 

There was a pause. 

She thought about how Ace was much faster than her too. ‘Stop that.’ she chided herself, ‘You don’t have a choice.’ 

“What are you waiting for?” Ace asked. 

She thought back to when she had run to Shanks for help. He wasn’t here now. She had to figure this out by herself. 

“What do you mean? You do it.” 

“What?! You..errr… you wanted to kill him so badly, I don’t want to take that from you.” 

“But he’s your deadweight, I have nothing to do with him, it’s only fair if you have the honor.” 

Again there was shoving and finally she gathered enough courage to take a look. 

The movements caught her eye first, but she forced her attention away from the two figures, not regarding them fully. She had to find the one they were talking about. And there he was, right next to them: It was really Luffy. Not quite unconscious, not quite unmoving. Definitely beaten. The sniffling came from him. He tried to get up with shaking arms, but he couldn’t bring himself to do much more than lift his head. She thought that he looked as if he might die on his own if the boys bickered long enough, but shoved that thought away quickly. 

Yura’s eyes went back to the two older ones. They hadn’t noticed her, shoving a knife, not unlike her own, back and forth between each other. They were both carrying long pipes as weapons, a sight, Yura was already familiar with. One of them was Ace, the other- She almost gasped. Yura would recognize that top hat anywhere. There was anger in her chest so sudden and strong that she couldn’t even think about holding it down. 

“You!” she screeched, pointing her knife at top hat boy accusingly, while she stomped in his direction. 

The two boys flinched visibly, heads snapping her way as soon as she said it. 

The boy in question was the first one to gather himself and buried his surprise in a giant tooth-gappy grin. Unpleasant memories awakened inside of Yura at the sight of it. 

“Weasel girl! Long time no-“ A fist collided with his face before he could finish the sentence. At least Yura’d had the conscience not to stab him right away. It was less about death and more about sending a message. Or maybe even more about the satisfying sound the impact of her fist made. He was sent to the floor immediately. 

Next to them, Ace didn’t move to aid his friend and Yura wondered with some satisfaction if he was reminded of his own taste of her punch. Either way, it was a good decision on his part to stay out, because she wasn’t done with the other idiot yet. 

“You!” she exclaimed again, “You stole my stuff!” 

The boy looked up at her. He was rubbing his cheek but there was no real pain or anger on his face. Instead, he grinned at her words. His hand reached up to tip his hat. “Sure did, Ma’am!” 

Admittedly, she hadn’t expected a confession. Yura searched for the right words to express not only the extent but also the intensity of her hatred. The boy used her pause to get up and dust his clothes off. They were still as worn down as the last time she had seen him, so the action seemed a little futile. 

“You had some cool things with you, weasel. Good quality stuff. You could have really used it in the jungle.” 

“No shit! I could have died out there!” 

“Eh, you look okay to me.” 

“Well, I’m not okay, there were some important things in that backpack! But lucky for you, you can give them back and I’ll forget the whole thing.” She would definitely not forget the whole thing either way. 

“’m afraid I can’t do that. But if it makes you sleep better, I got a really good price on the market for them.” 

“You SOLD IT? All of it?!” In her mind she was going through the items she had lost. The thought that any of Makino’s things were touched by grubby sleezy hands didn’t sit well with her, but thinking that a dirty stranger held the Gardener’s Guide in their hands was absolutely unbearable. Panic rose inside of her. 

The boy tipped his head to the side, thinking. “Most of it, I think, yeah. I think I kept the knife, the blanket and the rope. Not giving those back, though.” 

Of course, Ace chose this exact moment to butt into the conversation. “Can’t give the rope back anyway, remember, Sabo?“ 

“Oh yeah, we used it to tie the little one to the tree – hey, are you alright, you look a bit red in the face.” 

Top hat boy, that Ace had called Sabo, had stopped in his sentence and was now regarding her with confusion. And really, Yura could feel her heated face and knew it must be a spectacular color right now. But this was pushed to the side by the information she just received. Each new fact seemed to hammer a nail in her brain and she tried desperately to prioritize which one was the worst. Sabo had sold her stuff on the market. They had used her rope to tie Luffy to that tree back then. The Gardener’s Guide was gone. Ace knew about the rope. Which meant he knew about her other things. She couldn’t face Makino again, telling her she lost the book she gave her. Ace knew Sabo and knew he had been the one that robbed her all along. All the work Makino had put into the book, every note and comment, being read by some stranger. Ace knew. Ace knew. Ace knew. 

“You knew,” he croaked, but her voice gave out at the first word. She was hearing the world around her through cotton, so she was only vaguely aware of Sabo asking what she had said. And then she was at Ace’s throat. For the third time. 

“You knew!” she roared, and now there was air in her lungs again – almost too much air. Her lungs were burning. With every inhale her insides felt more like foreign objects. It was a different anger than last time, but somehow still the same. It was the old anger – Luffy tied to the tree, Luffy not wanting to hug her because he had peed his pants. And now the knowledge that it had been her rope, the rope she had gotten from Makino, the same rope they had used to tie planks to the hole in the stairs to the apartment, so that Yura and Luffy wouldn’t fall before it was properly fixed. She screamed as if she was in pain, fists raining down on Ace, who had learned from last time and managed to force her far enough from him with his pipe-weapon, so that she couldn’t properly hit him. And then there were hands around her middle, dragging her off. Sabo’s voice close to her ear but she didn’t listen. Instead, Yura used this chance to turn around, to use his own strength to bring him off balance. It wasn’t quite enough to force him to the ground. He was stronger than her, just like Ace was. He ripped at her arms and shirt, yanking her to the side. Yura stumbled, one knee hitting the dirt. And then there was the knife. Her own knife that she had dropped when she had attacked Ace. But now it was in front of her again. And then back in her hand. And she rounded on Sabo and swiped the blade in a wide bow. He stumbled back, shocked by her violence. To her left, Ace was on his feet again, not quite sure what to do now that some invisible line had been crossed by her using the knife. He still had the pipe, but hesitated to use it against her. But then, he made a decision, the same second she did. When she lunged at Sabo, he tackled her. All three of them went down and the knife was gone again. Ace’s weight landed on her injured thigh, and she winced. Her hands grabbed Sabo’s collar, and he couldn’t dodge her because his legs were caught under their bodies, limiting his movements. “Who did you sell it to?” She demanded, the first logical thought in her head for what seemed like forever. “The book! Who has it now?!” 

He didn’t get to answer, because Ace wrapped his arm around her neck from behind, pulling her in a chokehold. Yura tried to wiggle free and, when this didn’t work, looked around for the knife again. If she was the first one to find it, the first one to use it, she could win this. But she didn’t see the knife. Instead, her gaze fell on Luffy. He was mumbling something, but his voice had probably given out long ago. He faced their direction and Yura noticed with mild surprise that he wasn’t crying. There was immediate guilt inside of her at the fact that she had momentarily forgotten him. Her fight seemed very pointless all of a sudden. Behind her, Ace must have felt her relax under his grip, but he didn’t loosen it at all. And then suddenly, a pipe was connecting with her stomach forcefully. 

Her insides drew together, as if protecting themselves from violence. It took all her willpower not to vomit right then. Sabo was standing above her, pipe in hand, already drawn back to deal another blow. Ace was still holding her in place. 

“Let me go!” Yura screeched. She dug her heels into the ground in hopes of getting enough leverage to free herself. Her hands clawed at Ace’s arms. “Let me help him!” 

Sabo contemplated her for a second, but it looked like more of a show than actual human empathy. “Nice try, weasel girl, I’m not trusting you.” 

“What are you waiting for,” Ace gritted out behind her, “Blow her lights out.” It was less what he said and more how he said it that made panic rise inside of her. He sounded annoyed, but not angry or even remotely bothered by the prospect of brute force. What on earth was wrong with them?! They were barely older than her and this seemed to be normal for them! 

“What are you going to do? Kill me too? You couldn’t even kill Luffy two seconds ago!” It sounded challenging, even to her own ears. She was scared shitless by now; realizing how far in over her head she was here. Egging on her potential murderers probably wasn’t the best idea. If she was honest, she had absolutely no idea what they would and wouldn’t do. 

Without blinking, Sabo swung the pipe into her middle again. “Shut up,” he barked and he was about to say something else when a new voice joined the conversation. 

“Well well well, what do we have here?” All three of them turned her heads, minus Luffy, who still couldn’t move. Between the trees, a couple meters away stood two men. They looked just as grubby as the children themselves, and Yura vaguely thought that you really couldn’t escape the dirt up on this mountain. The one who had spoken was huge and wide. His tiny head was crowned with long purple hair and a giant tattoo winded around his massive biceps. His companion was a lot shorter with darker skin and spiky blonde hair. ‘Bandit or pirate?’ Yura asked herself and then wondered if it mattered at all. This weren’t Dadan’s men, and the way Sabo and Ace immediately tensed surely meant these guys were bad news. They had matching grins on their face. Why are people like this always grinning? An image of Higuma flashed before her eyes. Always grinning. 

Yura struggled to breathe properly- Ace’s arms were still wrapped around her throat and he had reflexively tightened his grip even more. She pried his hands away and he let her. The appearance of the two men had thrown the children on the same side again and they all knew it. The bigger man took a step forward, and Sabo raised his pipe in a threat. Just a minute ago, she had been terrified of the two boys but now it was hard to imagine that they had any chance against what appeared to be the real deal. 

The boys shared a glance, knowingly. A decision was made. And before the man could say anything, Sabo let out a determined yell and barreled towards the men, but instead of attacking him, like Yura had feared and fully expected, Sabo shortly turned on his heel, sprinting into the forest – still yelling. While Yura was still processing what was going on, Ace had mirrored his friend’s action. To her surprise, he grabbed her arm roughly, and set on a determined escape route in Sabo’s general direction. Yura yelled out in protest, ripping herself free as Ace started to run. She immediately went for Luffy, who was still on the ground, vaguely panicking at the edge of his consciousness but not really able to do much. But before she could reach him, Ace dragged her back, forcing her with him. 

“Wait-“ she yelped, “You can’t-!“ But she had to run along so she didn’t fall. And then there was Sabo again, replacing Ace by her side. While the freckled boy cursed at her but speeded up into the trees, Sabo drew her close for a moment, forcing her to look away from Luffy’s receding form and into his face. 

“They’ll get all of us, “ he yelled at her, “we can safe him later!” 

And although it was a flimsy promise, her brain was ready to eat it up and without really thinking about it, she started running for her life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wonder if any of them will turn into functioning adults..hm. What do you think?


	18. To the Rescue

“I should have stayed. I should have stayed! Why did you drag me away, I should’ve helped him! Oh God, Luffy’s gonna-“ 

“Are you done?” 

Yura stopped her pacing to shoot a glare at Ace. The boy was sitting on a tree trunk, chin cradled in his hand. He met her gaze equally. 

“Excuse me?” she asked, daring him to repeat himself. 

“I said: are you done? Can’t you just be grateful we saved you and shut up? Should have left you behind.” 

“Oh, I’m sorry! What should I be more grateful for, the fact that you somehow pissed off some dangerous men or that you beat up Luffy so much he couldn’t run away with us?” 

At her words, Ace jumped up angrily, taking the few steps in her direction to intimidate her. “It’s not my fault he’s such a weakling,” he scoffed and shoved her. Yura caught herself easily, immediately pushing against his chest in response. 

“Oh yeah, because the way you ran away like a headless chicken was real strong, alright!” 

Ace shoved her back again, a little harder this time. “At least I still-“ 

“Okay!” Sabo interrupted them, wedging his pipe between them like he was trying to peel apart a bundle of snakes. “Are you two always like that? Geez, if you scream any louder they’ll find us before we can make a plan!” 

Ace flicked the offending piece of metal away from him, but stepped away from her in as much of a peace offering as he was able to give. He crossed his arms and kicked at the dirt in front of him. “What’s there to plan? The little worm will rat us out and then that’s it.” 

“Lu won’t rat anyone out,” Yura said, offended at the pure idea. She didn’t know what this was about, but no matter what it was Luffy knew, he wouldn’t say anything. 

“Yeah, so we have to-“ Sabo said, ignoring her words. However, he then shot a side glance at her before continuing, “hide it somewhere else before they are coming.” Ace followed his glance, clearly contemplating his next words. 

“It’s way too much and we can’t go there right now-“ another awkward glance her way. Yura rolled her eyes. 

“If this is about this treasure you were talking about earlier, I really don’t care.” Both boys straightened at her words. Bingo. “I just want to get Luffy.” 

“How much did you hear?” A pipe was immediately pointed at her threateningly. She pushed it away, but Sabo just returned it to its position against her collar bone. There was a dangerous glint in his eye and she could see Ace gripping his weapon tighter as well. 

“Didn’t you hear what I just said? You can keep your shiny things, but I’ll go and save Lu.” The pipe knocked against her throat as the boy drew a bit closer. 

“No, you won’t.” 

“What?” 

“Are you stupid?” that was Ace again, looking at her like she got two heads. “They’ll just kill you!” 

“But Sabo said-“ 

“Sabo lied to you so you’d come along! Did you think we’d actually go and save the little rat?!” 

“I-.. Yeah, I mean…” 

“Oh my God!” He threw his hands in the air, turning around like the gods had cursed him, “You really are an idiot! Man, and I was really impressed when Sabo told me how he robbed you but you’re so gullible a fucking monkey could have done it!” 

Yura didn’t know what stung more: the embarrassment because he was right or the anger about the fact that they were so ready to leave someone behind in their mess. But no matter how much she raked her brain for a witty response, she couldn’t find the right words. Ace had a point. And she hated it. What she hated even more however, was that she needed their help. Her chance of survival would increase a good bit if she didn’t go on a rescue mission on her own. Yura took a deep breath. 

“So just to be clear,” she said. Her voice was vaguely resembling the tone of a calm and collected person. Maybe she also sounded a bit like a kindergartener talking to toddlers. “You pushed a little boy into shit and now you wanna leave him to choke. A boy you couldn’t kill ten minutes ago. Hope you’ll sleep well with that one.” Now it was on her to cross her arms. Ace, who absolutely didn’t seem to like being lectured and liked even less to be reminded of his moral compass, scrunched up his nose. Next to him, Sabo contemplated her words like he was thinking through a math equation. His fingers rubbed his chin and he had a faint pout on his lips. 

“No,” he finally concluded, “I’m not the one actually killing him so I think I’ll sleep fine.” There was no irony in his words. 

She snorted, “You might as well hold the knife, Sabo, it’s still your fault.” 

“Yeah maybe, but I’m not there to see it.” 

The thing about his attitude was that Yura actually believed him. From what she had seen so far he didn’t show much of compassion or any sign of a functioning conscience. Maybe he would actually sleep well knowing that he effectively killed a random kid he didn’t like. Yura shivered and decided that between the two, Ace was actually the better bet. And if that wasn’t the saddest thing she had ever thought. 

With a huff, she turned away from the top hat and prepared her best puppy dog eyes. She felt nauseated doing it, of course, but what can you do. Ace however, saw what she was going to try the moment she rounded on him. His hands flew up as if he was dodging a physical attack. He looked utterly disgusted. 

“Uh-uh,” he declared, “No. Forget it. Sabo’s right, I don’t care. Better the brat than me.” 

“Dadan won’t like it.” It was a desperate attempt. After all he had brought this point up earlier when they had plotted to kill Luffy. Ace faltered for a split second before his resolve went back up. 

“Eh, she won’t kill me, so-“ 

“Maybe. But Garp probably will.” 

His eyes went to slits as he regarded her cautiously. Now it was him contemplating the possibility, deciding how likely that actually was. “No, he won’t. He’ll beat my ass, but he won’t kill me.” 

“You sure? Luffy is his actual family.” 

“Family” Ace scoffed, “doesn’t mean much. Why dump him here if he’s so important?” 

“Garp just-“ 

Her sentence was interrupted by white pain. It exploded in the back of her head, sending stars across her vision. It was incredibly frustrating because she had had the explanation ready, she was right in this and Ace wasn’t. But the pain jumbled her thoughts like a stone thrown in a puddle. Her knees hit the ground, her hands went up to her head, cupping the hurting spot. There wasn’t any blood. Still, she felt panic rise inside of her. When she turned around to see who had attacked her, she fully expected the evil men from earlier. Instead, her eyes landed on a dark blue coat. 

“That’s enough talking,” Sabo said, the pipe he had swung still in his hands. 

She tried to gather enough coherent thoughts to ask him what he was doing, but before she could form a sentence he drew back again. She tried to dodge but was to slow in her confusion. The metal cracked against the side of her head loudly. She was out before her face hit the ground. 

*** 

The act of opening her eyes sent a spike of pain through her brain. But Yura willed herself to keep trying until her eyelids did what she wanted. Her head felt heavy. First she thought it were only the after-effects of the attack, but when she actually managed to scan her surroundings he noticed the world to be upside down. 

The second thing she noticed was that she couldn’t move her feet freely. Then that her arms were dangling next to her face. 

She was hanging upside down. 

In the air. 

From a tree. 

“You can’t be serious!” Yura cursed under her breath, wiggling around a bit. It only resulted in her slightly swaying back and forth. The blood was throbbing in her ears already, so she stopped. Puking upside down sounded like a situation she should avoid if possible. Instead, she craned her neck, looking at the vines wrapped around her ankles. It took her a minute to decide on a strategy and another one to gain enough momentum in her swinging to grab the trunk of the tree next to her. Clawing herself up needed more muscle strength than she was comfortable managing, but the prospect of starving or getting eaten or shot down by evil people worked wonders for her motivation. The knot was well done, but the vine was a lot less durable than a rope would have been. A few determined tugs and liberal use of teeth and Yura was free. There was a thud when her feet hit the mossy ground of the jungle. The wound in her thigh stung immediately. 

Unfortunately, it hadn’t spontaneously vanished. 

She looked around. There was the tree trunk Ace hat sat on, so the two boys hadn’t dragged her away. Yura felt something close to glee when she realized she wasn’t actually lost in the jungle this time. She had an idea where she was! Then she realized how low her standards had sunken since coming to the mountains. But the jungle was too thick around here to see the sky properly and the many trees and bushes blocked the light even on a bright day. She had no idea what time it was or how long it had been since she was knocked out. Yura rubbed her cheeks with both hands. The blood was leaving her face only slowly and she forced herself to wait a few seconds so that the stuffy feeling went away. 

‘Okay,’ she thought to herself, clapping her cheeks a couple times to reenergize, ‘what now?’ 

A bit of memory jogging and the unmistakable traces of fleeing children in the grass lead her back to the place they had left Luffy behind. With a slight lump in her throat she crouched down to a bit of blood in the dirt – it probably belonged to Luffy, right? Yura peeked in the direction the men had come from and decided that it was her best bet to go in that direction. 

“Sounds like a great idea,” she mumbled, “Just follow the men that tried to kill you.” 

She would have thought that the huge purple haired man and his comrades left even more traces – maybe a swathe cut through the green by a massive body. 

But when Yura tried to follow their trail there really wasn’t much to find after all. She just decided that the strategy of going in a straight line had helped last time and so it wouldn’t do harm now either. And indeed, after some time of rushing through bushes and shoving branches away, the jungle opened up to a vast land of grey. 

Yura stopped in her tracks. This was unlike anything she had ever seen. It was as if nature just … ended. As if it made way to the dirt and mountains of garbage and hundreds of skinny and worn-down people rummaging through it. The smell hit her suddenly when the slight breeze turned in her direction, but it was the fine dust in the air that made her sneeze. It was a truly horrible place and right behind it, in the far distance, was a wall so high that Yura thought it must have been built by giants. A bright city was sparkling behind it. Remembering the maps Makino had shown her this city must have been Goa. But the maps hadn’t prepared her for whatever this was in front of it. 

If she was an evil man kidnapping a child, Yura thought, this was where she would have her headquarters too. Somewhere in the middle of all this garbage. 

Fastening her knife at her side – Ace and Sabo had left it with her for some reason and Yura knew better than to read anything like kindness into it – she walked right into the junkyard. There were paths cleared through the piles like roads and in an odd and crooked way this stinky landscape seemed like a city itself. 

The people were clearly poor and starving. A lot of them were scavenging, others lay around in a daze as if they had already given up on life. It was a chilling sight. Extremely uncomfortable. But at least she shouldn’t attract too much attention in her dirty clothes, and half-assed bandage. Maybe the blood splattered on her shirt would keep the creepy people away? 

All hopes of that happening vanished within about thirty seconds. The further Yura walked into the place, the more eyes landed on her. She took a closer look – no purple hair around at least. But even the noise in this place was unsettling. The angry screech of metal on metal burst through eerie silence when one of the scavengers decided to dig a bit deeper. The collective work made it sound like something was always in motion, a centipede whose many feet rumbled through the world. The hair at the back of Yura’s neck rose. Willing to do anything to speed up the process, she approached an almost skeletal man in a grimy white fabric wrapped around his waist. 

“Excuse me,” she called, and the man jumped as if she had shouted directly into his ear, “Have you seen a boy with a strawhat, probably carried around by some mean looking men? One of them was big with purple hair.” 

The man stared at her, his gaze quickly zeroing in on her waist. “That’s a fine knife you have there, girl. How much?” 

“Eh? Oh, I- it’s not… I’m not selling it. Have you seen the boy?” His intense eyes didn’t stop shining. 

“Maybe I’ll tell you if you give it to me.” 

Yura instinctively took a couple steps back, which were mirrored by the scary man. His voice had a weird high pitch to it and he looked about a millisecond away from just snatching her only weapon from her. 

“N-never mind, thank you!” She walked away with as much composure she could muster. Inside she was absolutely freaking out, wondering if the man would follow her. She wasn’t even around the corner of the next junk pile when another voice approached her. 

“You looking for a little boy?” 

She didn’t trust the owner of the voice and kept her safe distance. He seemed about thirty percent more sane than the last one, definitely just as hungry, but a lot less desperate. “Why? Have you seen him?” The man looked up and down the road. He beckoned her closer, which she ignored. He didn’t seem eager to answer. 

“You shouldn’t just ask around for people,” he evaded, “Especially not if the men look like what you said.” 

“With purple hair? Or mean-looking in general?” 

“Listen,” the man started again, more urgently, “this is no place for you. If he’s really with Polchemy’s lot-“ 

“Polchemy?” 

“Shhh!” The man looked around again, as if the man in question was conjured by his name alone. And suddenly, it seemed like she was much more risk than he was willing to take, because in the blink of an eye the only helpful person around was gone. 

“Well, thanks,” she mumbled sarcastically, continuing down the dusty path in search for more help. 

A movement in the corner of her eye caught her attention and directed her eyes back to the pile of garbage the vaguely helpful man had come from. A dusty face peered at her from between the trash, one and the same color like its surroundings. Yura just stared back, waiting for it to do something. Was there a body attached to it or did the human really just become one with the junkyard? The thought was kind of sad. 

The face lifted its eyebrows. 

Yura lifted her eyebrows too. 

The face’s eyes rolled to the right, then back to her. Then to the right again. 

“Are you-“ 

At her words, the face retracted like a snail, hissing quietly. Yura waited. Eventually, it reappeared. No talking, alright. 

The eyes pointed to the right again. 

She silently pointed down the path in that direction. A silent question. 

The face got as close to nodding as it dared. 

Yura nodded and made herself throw the face a grateful smile. 

The face vanished. 

She went down the path. 

Was everyone around here a creepy freak? And how much creepy could she take in exchange for actual helpfulness? Well, it turned out a lot. At least she had a name now, even though it didn’t seem to be a popular one around here. Maybe she should take the advice of the strange scared man and be a bit more careful with asking around. Maybe there were other garbage faces willing to guide her way? 

She rounded a pile, running straight into the back of another person. ‘Please don’t be creepy, please don’t be creepy, please-“ she chanted mentally, only to recognize the godforsaken hat and coat. This was so much worse than creepy. 

“What are you doing here?” she hissed at Sabo, who had turned around to her at first contact, his pipe ready to bash in her head once again. When he realized it was her his shoulders sagged. 

“Oh God, you’re actually here,” he whispered. He didn’t really sound surprised, so she didn’t feel like an answer was necessary. Instead, there were more pressing matters. 

“Where is freckle face?” she whispered back. 

“Out scoping. The lair is just down there,” he pointed along a sandy pathway. Behind what seemed to be more hills of whatever people dumped here was the back of a poorly build hut. It consisted of chunks of corrugated iron, rusty metal plates, broken tires and some wooden planks. 

“Oh boy, and I thought Dadan’s house was a lost cause,” she breathed. 

“A trash house for trash people.” 

She snorted before she could stop herself, clasping a hand to her mouth quickly. A glance over to Sabo showed that he didn’t plan on cracking a joke either, but a proud little grin threatened to spill over his lips when he saw her reaction. She decided then not to question their motives and just be glad that the boys were here after all. For now. 

“What is this place?” Since they were waiting for Ace to return, Yura used the time to get some information. Sabo didn’t seem uncomfortable in the slightest around here and it wasn’t surprising that he knew this area. 

He regarded her curiously, but grinned when he remembered something. “Ah, that’s right, you’re from the other side of the island right? Probably not what you’re used to from your village.” 

“Just answer the question,” she pouted. For once Sabo didn’t seem set on antagonizing her, but his words still made her feel self-conscious. She suddenly felt ashamed of the privilege she had had living with Makino. However, it wasn’t Sabo that answered her, but Ace, who had appeared from the direction of the lair. 

“It’s called the Grey Terminal,” he said. His eyes swept over their surroundings and it’s washed out colors briefly, “for obvious reasons.” 

She thought she remembered something about it. “So all this comes from the city?” 

Sabo grinned broader. “Only the best junk, graciously offered by the fine and generous people of Goa Kingdom.” 

Beside her, Ace once again squinted at his friend as a sign of disapproval for using fancy words. Yura too had no idea what ‘graciously’ meant, but the sarcasm in the boy’s voice gave her a feeling for what he was saying. 

“Alright, let’s get moving,” Ace changed the topic. He braced his weapon on his shoulder as he faced her. “Since you’re already here, you might as well help. If you not scared I mean.” 

She didn’t remind him that she was the one that had suggested this in the first place. Instead, she asked “Wait, don’t you want to tell me who these people are?” 

The boys had already started making their way to the hideout, gradually crouching down as to not make much noise. Yura sighed at them ignoring her and followed them Ace guided them to an opening that was the closest thing to a window this place seemed to have. It wasn’t much more than a slit near the ground and didn’t look intentional at the slightest. The sharp edges of the metal were covered in rust. When she looked inside carefully, she realized that the interior was deeper into the ground than she had thought. It made the whole thing look like a basement. Someone tried to make it look more homely by covering the walls with all kinds of fabric. Given that the same Jolly Roger greeted her from multiple places, the faded tapestries and dirty silks were probably stolen. 

“Pirates?” Yura hissed at the boys next to her, “You picked a fight with pirates??” 

The two shushed her angrily. 

In the middle of the room stood the purple haired man – Polchemy - and one of his goons. Another one lay in a corner, drowsy on a pile of dirty rags. 

Automatically, she compared the scene in front of her to Shanks and his crew. The Red Hair Pirates hadn’t been the only pirate crew she ever encountered of course, but it was unavoidable that all future crews had to measure up against them in Yura’s head. The comparison was pitiful. 

“How much longer do you want to keep this up?” Polchemy asked, and Yura needed a moment to realize that his massive body was covering the one he was talking to. “Is this really worth it?” 

“I won’t say anything!” The words were more of a sob than a cohesive sentence, and it sounded like a mantra Luffy had been set on for the last hours. “I won’t say anything!” 

She gritted her teeth, stopping herself from instinctively calling out to him. The only reason the pirates hadn’t heard them yet was probably due to Luffy’s profuse crying. Polchemy started wandering around. He was frustrated and the pirate next to him kept a pointed distance. Not even his own men seemed to like the guy. He punched Luffy again but the boy’s answer stayed the same. Eventually, Polchemy stopped. Calmness overtook his body. It was a contrast to the angry pacing before and Yura sensed what it meant. She gripped her knife and felt the boys next to her ready their weapons too. 

“If that’s what you want,” Polchemy drawled and raised his saber too, “then die!” 

It was the exact moment the children managed to launch their attack. Yura could barely squeeze through the slit in the wall, but their collective force tore a good portion of the weak opening apart. Yura’s own angry scream was mirrored by Ace and Sabo. She realized dimly that they didn’t really have a plan, but the boys seemed to know what they were doing. While Ace went straight for the purple pirate, Sabo went for the other man. 

Luffy was wrapped in rope, dangling from the ceiling and extremely happy to see them. She automatically ran over to her friend. She had completely forgotten about the third man, the one who had been sleeping in the corner, until he grabbed the back of her shirt roughly. Yura twisted around, dealing a wide swipe with her knife. The pirate jumped back and cursed. The cut on his face gleamed angrily. She didn’t wait for him to regain his balance and instead threw herself at him. Her left fist went into the soft flesh of his tummy. Then her knife went into his shoulder. She was shocked how easily the flesh gave in under the blade and shuddered. The pirate screamed. His large hand went for her throat and she angrily bit down on his hand. There was chaos around them, but Yura found something hard and heavy in her reach and brought it down on the man’s head repeatedly. Only when he stopped moving did he allow herself to see what the object was and found a gun in her hand. The shiny metal was smeared with red now. She threw it away in disgust. The sound of fighting didn’t stop – it seemed like an eternity when in reality her fight had only lasted a couple seconds. She hastily got up and finally reached Luffy. Unfortunately, she wasn’t tall enough to cut him free. No matter how far up she tried to reach, it wasn’t enough. Luffy babbled in gratefulness and panic, but she barely heard it. 

Then, suddenly, she was lifted up. Yura squeaked, expecting one of the pirates again. 

“Stop struggling and cut him off already,” Sabo huffed below her. His arms were wrapped around her thighs, his vice coming from somewhere at her side. She nodded and swiftly did as he told. Sabo let her fall as soon as he heard the rope give in and instead caught Luffy before the boy could hit the ground. 

“Thanks,” she breathed, but Sabo was already running off to aid Ace. He was currently caught in Polchemy’s clutches, cursing the man viciously. She saw that the other third man was already out like a light, Polchemy going down heavily as well as Sabo smashed his pipe on the back of the pirate’s head. 

She turned back to Luffy, helping him get rid of the rest of the rope, then taking him by the arm to make a swift exit. Sabo was right next to her. But there was one missing. 

The three children turned around. 

Polchemy had gotten up again. His body was looming over Ace who had his pipe brandished in front of him. 

“What are you doing? Let’s go!” Sabo seemed as confused as she was. Ace didn’t look at them. 

“I’m not running away from an enemy,” he called. Yura was stunned. He really meant it, didn’t he? Sabo huffed, but a grin spread over his face after his initial shock. Yura knew where this was going. 

“Stay here,” she told Luffy who only looked up to her with watery eyes before nodding. 

The three older children let out another battle cry and launched themselves at the pirate. 

He didn’t stand a chance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TLDR: Angry gremlins begrudgingly working together to fight the even bigger asshole!  
> A late Happy New Year from me and I hope 2021 treated you better already <3


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